From the Shadows of Eden: An Unnatural Journey
by SppeedTMX
Summary: When the lone Huntress Serra is assigned to a Fireteam, she can only hope the arrangement is temporary. Between the timid Titan Nolano and hyperactive Huntress Lana, she's not sure if this assignment is serious or a punishment from Cayde. But when a Martian dust storm strands the trio in the Black Garden, will Serra learn to let go of their differences? On Hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

_Well here it is, a collaboration between **Riesling** and I, hopefully the adventure you're about to embark on will be as fun to read as it was for us to write._

 _Disclaimer: We obviously don't own Destiny otherwise the DLC wouldn't cost so much ;)_

* * *

She was on the eastern edge of the Mothyards, exploring the wreckage of what had decades before been the fuselage of a vessel that might have spelled hope and progress for humanity; for what other reason had there been so many? Taking three cautious steps forward, she crouched into the safety of a cave, hallowed by the Fallen House of Devils for a purpose the Huntress couldn't care to divine. Now, all that remained of the accomplishments of man, undertakings that might well have laid the foundation for the Collapse, was a forgotten graveyard; tombstones of melted metal and epitaphs written as empty munition clips from Fallen and Hive alike.

'Just because man can does not mean he should,' she recalled the words of an old friend, a Warlock who had lost his Light too soon. The Huntress paused, setting her gaze on the horizon, just visible from the mouth of the cave.

A fallen skiff had just deposited a small scouting party some twenty or so meters ahead of her. A Vandal, two Shanks, and three Dreg. Loading a fresh round of ammunition into the barrel of her hand cannon, the Huntress licked her lower lip in anticipation, spinning the magazine closed as she silently trailed a path along the opposite boundary of the fuselage that separated her from where the Devils were beginning to spread out.

She let them disperse, mentally determining to pick them off individually. Her challenge in this endeavor would be to not have to reload her hand cannon in the barrage she was preparing to unleash upon her unsuspecting enemy.

Two shots and both Shanks fell from their hovering, exploding to a pile of rubble as they landed against the dirt path.

The Vandal shrieked, sending the Dreg under his command to spread out further still; flank the enemy that had destroyed their Shanks. But Serra had already moved from her position of cover behind a large wooden crate. She was circling through the center of the same fuselage that had once separated them.

Another shot through a decaying bit of the craft she was wandering through and one Dreg fell with an earsplitting yelp of protest.

Serra smirked; his head had exploded before he'd been destroyed.

She turned quickly, peering out of the remains she could only presume had once been a door, searching for the next Dreg who would become her prey. As she caught a glimmer of movement from her peripheral vision, Serra lined up to fire another shot and drew a deep breath. Just as she pulled the trigger, she felt the sting of Arc Magic scorch through the armor at her right bicep, causing her to misfire her weapon. With a scowl, she turned quickly to find that a second Dreg was still holding her in the sights of his shock pistol. She growled low in the back of her throat; he had almost taken her by surprise. Two leaps towards the creature and she hit her mark, directly between his eyes.

Stepping away, she watched as a shock grenade fell to his side. He'd meant it for her, of course, but he'd met his demise before he could hurl the projectile at the agile Huntress, still stalking her way silently through the Mothyards, taunting her enemies.

Turning back towards the doorway she'd leapt away from, Serra swiftly slit the throat of the Dreg at which she'd previously misfired. She smirked, raising her eyebrow as she watched the Fallen Devil quivering at her feet. That left her with only the Vandal yet to deal with and one bullet to see her self-imposed challenge to fruition. Her voice was a low whisper, "Come out, come out wherever you are, love."

And then, as if to protest her taunt, the last Vandal shrieked and gave away his position. Her green eyes shot to the north end of the fuselage where she caught a glimpse of him hovering over the remains of the Dreg who had suffered at the blast of his own shock grenade. Throwing two of his arms into the air, Serra held her breath as the Vandal fired two bursts from his shock rifle in Serra's direction.

Ducking behind a metal box, she peered around the corner of her makeshift shelter and fired the last round of her hand cannon – a miss. She had been too far away to hit the Devil; he'd rolled off of her line of fire expertly, like she hadn't been the first Guardian who's sight he'd been on the wrong side of.

The Huntress charged him, reaching for the field knife strapped to her right thigh she slid under the next wave of fire that he sent in her direction. When she threw the knife, it connected directly with the place just between his upper set of eyes. As she rose to her feet, coming to stand over him, she watched the way his black blood stained what little remained of the snowfall under her feet.

Placing one of her rust brown boots on the Vandal's throat, the Huntress bent over her kill and pulled her knife from his forehead with a swift motion of her hand. As she set to the task of cleaning the blade on his tattered cape, she noticed something gleam from within the folds of a pouch at his waist; so she reached inside to remove the remains of a dead Ghost. Cocking her head to the side as she ran a hesitant finger over the device, she sighed, feeling her heart constrict within her chest, "Come, little light, let us return you home to Tower."

As she secured the sleeping metal frame within the leather field pouch secured to her left hip, her own Ghost hesitated, "What was that?"

Serra frowned, turning her gaze upwards in time to watch the sky grow dark, like the sun was being eclipsed, and she braced herself when the ground began to shake. A flash of light filled her vision as she watched an old warsat fall out of the sky a few hundred meters away from where she'd just finished exploring. She didn't hesitate, rushing in the direction of the metal wreckage. Her Vanguard would be pleased if she could secure this artifact for analysis. The look on Cayde's face when she would reveal that she'd defended the warsat on her own – she smirked, reloading her hand cannon as she went.

"How exciting," she murmured, summoning her Ghost to analyze what she'd found and report to Tower so that a transport could be arranged.

"I knew we'd be getting into this," her Ghost protested.

Meanwhile, from across the Mothyards, a behemoth Titan shielded his eyes as he watched a manic ball of fire and metal careen out of the sky. The impact shook the ground like the earth itself would split in two.

"Woooow," the Warlock beside him sarcastically gawked as a bright light consumed the sky. But even as the dust settled, neither Warlock nor Titan moved; not even the Hunter with them budged from the place where he lounged against a wooden crate less than a meter away.

"Um, we should probably go check that out," Nolano asked tentatively. When neither member of his Fireteam made to react, he added nervously, "Right?"

The Warlock nodded in agreement but the Hunter only grunted. The Warlock rolled his eyes as he nudged the Hunter with the toe of his grey boot.

"Get up, Bo. You know just as well as I that we haven't done shit out here for the past two days. At least we'll have something to report back now."

The Hunter tilted his head a bit, looking up at the Warlock, before picking himself up off of the ground. He shrugged in response to his Fireteam Leader before leading the way down a hill and towards the entrenched warsat.

"Whatever," the Warlock waved to the Titan, vaulting down off of the piece of shrapnel he'd been sitting upon to catch the Hunter. "C'mon, Tiny; let's hit it."

Despite his size, Nolano was quick to catch up with the duo as they started off in a jog towards the fallen satellite. Granted, it hadn't taken them long to see a battle ensuing ahead. Hordes of Fallen were being beaten back by a single Huntress; she seemed hell bent on killing even the lowly Dreg that tried to flee the range of her hand cannon.

"Reinforcements!" the voice of her Ghost called out over the sound of her hand cannon, fired once, twice, three times.

"Form up, boys, give her some cover," the Warlock commanded as he waved the other two men forward.

The rounds of Nolano's pulse rifle sliced through the approaching Fallen as he took up position close to the Huntress, nearly brushing shoulders with her as she fluttered from the warsat's east and west sides, marking her targets and ending them with deathly precision. The Titan couldn't help but feel that she seemed rather upset about their Fireteam's intrusion, for some reason.

As Bo began to rain down fire from the top of a nearby ridge, she practically growled, "I was doing fine on my own!"

But the trio added their firepower to her own, despite what outward irritation she seemed to express for their efforts; staying for not two but three additional waves of Fallen reinforcements that tried in vain to capture the Golden Age relic for their own purposes. When the final skiff came to dispense another wave of their enemy's forces, Nolano watched in quiet awe as the Huntress jumped up on top of the warsat, drawing her shotgun off of her back. She crouched low, jumping once and then disappearing from sight flicked by the power of her Blink, flying towards the Fallen Devils that were exiting their skiff.

She caught a Dreg, launching herself off of his shoulders, and intercepted a Captain as he fell. Her arms were wrapped around the beast's neck as the pair of them started to fall towards the ground together. But she seemed to have been prepared for attack as she fired two rounds from her well-worn shotgun directly into the Captain's back. As she landed on top of his body, against the ground, her hunting knife sliced through the tough skin at the back of his neck.

Nolano drew a deep breath, sensing that his Fireteam were all staring at the Guardian like she'd grown a second head – he wasn't the only one who'd been surprised by her daredevil antics. When she summoned a plume of Arc Light, the Titan was instantly reminded that the battle was not yet won – she sped toward two nearby Servitor, slicing them in half. Nolano was spurred to motion when she threw a second knife into the face of a Dreg that had found his way behind the Warlock. The Titan, quick to repay her kindness in saving his Fireteam Leader, fired a few rounds of his pulse rifle to dispense of the final two Shanks and a Vandal.

With the final burst of her Arc powered blade, the slight-framed little Huntress placed a shockwave near the ground at Bo's feet.

"The fuck, woman?" Bo spat at the fiery Huntress, angry as a hornet as he jumped down off of the ridge and made a leap for her. Before he could get his hands on her, she'd sidestepped him, jumping back to the corpse of the Captain she'd killed to remove her knife from the back of his neck.

Before Bo could chase after her again, the Warlock gripped his shoulder, holding him in place.

The Titan was captivated, to say the least; he couldn't figure out for the life of him why she seemed to find their presence to be such a hindrance. They had helped her quite a considerable amount; a story told clearly in the number of Fallen lying dead at their feet. Now, Nolano was the first to admit that women totaled very few of his communicative experiences – but her ferocity was intriguing. Damn intriguing. Perhaps there was a reason for her discontent that day – and even though it was far outside of the realms of his comfort level, the Titan figured he should at least try to inquire as to why she seemed in such a fowl temper before such behavior had to be recorded in the usual post mission briefing.

If anything, her words might be enough to discourage his squad's leader, Talzen, from fabricating something outlandish and crude.

"He-hello, uh, how are you doing – er – doing today, ma'am?" the Titan managed, extending a slightly shaking hand to the Huntress.

When she turned her attention to the Titan that had spoken to her, Nolano recoiled, slightly. His skin crawled as he felt the Huntress visibly size him up. Nervous wouldn't even begin to describe what he felt – her scrutiny was almost tangible as she looked him up and down. She approached slowly. When she passed by Bo, she flicked her wrist to dispense of the Captain's blood from her field knife, sending the dark liquid splattering over the other Hunter's boots and shin guards.

That drew an audible growl from the Hunter, he always knew if he ever saw this particular Huntress again, it would be too soon.

Seizing his hand, Nolano narrowed his eyes as he watched her turn it over; she was inspecting his… hands? His gloves maybe? But instead of releasing his limb, she jerked him forward, towards her like the feat had required little more energy than throwing her knife. The Titan was extremely surprised by how much torque her lithe form could produce – an exo perhaps? Though, then again, he wasn't exactly the shining example of stability around the opposite sex.

He struggled to keep himself from falling over when she'd leaned her forehead close to his, their helmets clicking together. And her voice – the tone in which she'd whispered, "What's the matter, Titan? Do I scare you?"

Scare? To an extent, sure. She had been quite violent towards Bo only a few moments ago and she had seemed quite a bit more capable than he in the battle that occurred just moments before. More capable and a lot more reckless… Of course he wanted to compliment her on a job well done with that but his lips just locked up.

"Be nice, Guardian," the woman's Ghost whirred to life around her head.

Nolano felt relieved and disappointed at the same time when she dropped his hand to silence her Ghost with a sharp, graceful flick of her wrist. As he stood before her, staring down at her, he anxiously rubbed the back of his helm until Talzen called for him, "Hey! Hurry up, Titan; the Vanguard won't wait forever on this warsat."

Not wanting to seem rude for leaving her so abruptly, Nolano offered the fiery little Huntress a nervous bow before turning to rejoin the Warlock. The Hunter, on the other hand, growled low in his throat once again as he glanced at the Huntress; Nolano could only imagine the other man was glaring from behind his visor.

As the Titan felt himself whispered away by his Ghost's transmat, he quietly pondered the lone Huntress. Where was her Fireteam? Had she really just gone off on patrol by herself? Perhaps after years of combat she was the last of her squad. Regardless of her reason for being alone, a part of the Titan's more-sensible self was relieved to be away from the fierce Guardian. Leaning back in the cockpit of his jump ship, he relaxed, deciding the smooth stone of Tower's Plaza would be a welcome change of pace to the Russian back-country he'd been patrolling for two days.

Bo and Talzen were already waiting for their comrade to drop when Nolano felt himself rematerialize into the late afternoon sun warming the Plaza. As the Titan straightened his shoulders, none of their trio said a word about their mission, the warsat, or the Huntress they'd left behind. They were silent as they made the short trek to report their findings to Commander Zavala. Their journey was, of course, not without the usual stares of awe at the Titan's height.

Unfortunately Nolano had not braced himself for one of the other members of his Fireteam jumping onto his back with glee.

"What's up, guys!" Lana squealed as the tall Titan nearly jumped out of his armor.

"We picked up a warsat," the Warlock replied, stifling a laugh as he watched Nolano try to pry off the short Huntress as she moved about his shoulders like a spider, always keeping herself just out of his grasp. "It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself."

Even Shaxx let out a low chuckle as the group walked by. Lana's antics were always a good source of entertainment.

"Guardians!" the City's Commander bellowed as the group neared. Then he turned his attention to Talzen, continuing, "I want to commend your squad on a job well done."

Lana, turning her attention to the red and blue mark that Nolano wore at his waist, squeaked nervously as she noticed the glare that the commander shot in her direction for her obvious intentions. But even despite the reprimand, Lana refused to climb off of the tall Titan's shoulders, earning herself a disappointed look from the Commander and a snort from Cayde.

"Are there any specific details you wish to relay before I review your reports?" Zavala asked, his silvery blue eyes already turned towards the mechanical screen in front of him.

"Funny you should mention that," the Warlock narrowed his eyes. "Tiny here made, I believe, a new friend. Someone Cayde might recognize."

Bo elaborated, "It's Serra, sir."

Cayde straightened at the mention of his lone Huntress, his attention focused on the pair of Guardians before him.

So that was her name. Serra? But rather than ponder over her identity, the Titan could only frown, keeping his eyes on the ground as Talzen spoke up to the Vanguards as the tall young man had originally feared – to rag on the fierce little Huntress with absolutely no shame and no detail left unembroidered.

* * *

It was barely an hour later when she received the transmission from Cayde, "Serra! Report to Tower. There's a…" and he'd sighed at this part, taking a long pause, before he finished the thought, "There's a matter of your conduct that we need to discuss."

She'd paused in her movements, choosing not to shoot into a nearby collection of three Fallen Dreg as she processed her Vanguard's message. Confident as she would have liked to be in the situation, there was a vaguely nervous sort of tension pooling in the recesses of her subconscious – she'd sensed that something was off; that things were not going to go well for her back at Tower. The breeze caught her cape, a flutter of crimson and warm sable that flowed softly away from her, and she turned her attention to her hand cannon to reload the barrel.

"Serra?"

The Huntress let her back fall against the concrete wall she was using as cover. If her Ghost had noticed the change in her demeanor, the elevated heartrate or the increased rate of her breathing, he'd made no comment. Collecting herself and fighting to keep her voice calm, Serra replied carefully, "Yes, Vanguard."

She fired three shots for three kills.

"Immediately, Guardian!" Cayde had snapped back, severing the connection with a harsh tone.

"Now look what trouble you've gotten us into!" her Ghost scolded, flickering blue light over his Huntress. Her knees had gone weak but Serra did nothing to keep herself from falling to the ground, her legs splaying out before her. Her focus, though directed towards the horizon, was of an internal nature as the grip on her hand cannon faltered and the gun fell to rest in her lap. But her Ghost pressed on, seeming not to notice his Guardian's distress, "If only you had controlled your temper, Guardian! That Fireteam was only trying to help you! Damn your pride – it's gotten us into a fix again!"

Serra sighed, "A lecture is what you think I need right now, Ghost?"

And when he recognized her tone, the defeat evident in her voice as it laced with fear, he fell silent and came to rest on her left shoulder.

"Take me to orbit," she whispered. "Please."

* * *

"What in the Traveler's name did you think you were doin' out there, Serra?" Cayde raged, striking his fist against the war room table, over his map. He'd lowered his gaze to the scrolls laid out in front of him but the Huntress could tell that he was angry. His mechanical shoulders were shaking and he'd left a dent in the table beneath his map. "Firing on an allied Fireteam after they helped you defend a warsat?"

"Sir, I-"

"Silence!" the Vanguard looked up at her, then. His orange eyes glowed towards the end of the table where his Huntress waited with shoulders slouched for the shame of her actions and the angry gaze he held her focused intensely under. She turned to look at the floor, flinching when he raised his voice. Cayde drew a deep breath, deciding to soften his approach, "I've been too easy on you, Guardian. This is my fault for letting you get away with as much as I have."

"Sir, I can explain."

"I never asked for an explanation," he cut her off, his left hand striking the table behind him as emphasis to his point. He crossed the distance to stand in front of her, lowering his voice, "Ikora's Warlock relayed the heroics of your exploits hours ago."

Serra flinched, closing her eyes for the bitter, biting sarcasm in his voice.

"You're decommissioned, Guardian," Cayde crossed his arms over his chest, studying her closely for what reaction she might have to his punishment.

"But, sir!"

"Two weeks, Serra," the Vanguard silenced her. "I'll send for you when the Traveler again requires your services."

Her jaw fell open as she processed his words – but she quickly guarded her emotions and lowered her chin in acceptance, "Yes, Cayde."

"Dismissed."

And the Huntress left quickly, her Ghost hovering silently behind her.

When she was well out of earshot, Ikora raised an eyebrow at her peer, asking innocently, "Don't you think you were a bit hard on her, Cayde? We're all aware of Talzen's particular… conventions with embellishment."

The Exo sighed, pulling his field knife from the table where he'd used it to mark the presumed location of a Vex stronghold not far from the entrance to the Vault of Glass. He shook his head, replying, "I don't know what to do with that one. I admire her courage – but she's too reckless. If it wasn't this Fireteam, it would have been another. And I can't assign her to one of her own; she'd get the lot of them killed or worse."

"So the answer was to forbid her wanderings in the Traveler's service?" the Warlock Vanguard asked innocently, a faraway look passing over her soft features.

"Were you me, what would you have done with her?"

Ikora laughed, "I'd have trusted her alone, Cayde. But as a woman who chose to fend for myself, I can believe Serra's instincts would serve her well, keep her safe."

Zavala, crossing his arms over his chest, interjected, "If I may propose an idea of my own, Vanguards."

The Exo Hunter and the Human Warlock turned to the Awoken Titan, curious…


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: We still don't own Destiny otherwise Xur's prices would have been adjusted for inflation._

* * *

Between Talzen's tall tales and Lana's constant badgering, the Titan couldn't decide whether this was a bad day or a horrible one. He regretted letting the Warlock say what he had; there was no doubt the Huntress would suffer for his actions. He shouldn't have let him lie to their Vanguards. Nolano had wanted to speak but he didn't, he couldn't.

He just wasn't a very assertive person. And he was aware of how ironic that was coming from a big, boisterous Titan. So all he could do was stand at attention with a look of apprehension on his face. He'd known it was a detail the City's Commander was not quick to overlook. The Titan only hoped that something good might still come from Zavala's observation.

As they had been dismissed, Nolano sort of slumped away. Lana, detecting his sullen mood, had given him a soothing pat on the head. At least there was one lady he could be comfortable with as opposed to being a fumbling, nervous mess. And for that, at least, the tall Titan was very grateful.

"You should have seen the look on Bo's face when she aimed her last shockwave at his feet," Talzen laughed as their Fireteam ascended from the Vanguards' post. "I thought he'd pissed himself."

"Fuck off, Warlock," the Hunter replied darkly. "You almost passed out when her field knife went whizzing by your head."

"Quite the contrary," the Warlock retorted. "I knew that Dreg was behind me the whole time. If her aim had been better, I wouldn't have had reason to worry."

"Her aim was perfect, you ass," Bo defended; now if only he'd have found his conscience in front of the Commander and Cayde, Nolano frowned.

"So, where are we going?" the violet-haired Huntress chirped, changing the subject as she kicked her legs a little at Nolano's side. She was still riding happily along from atop his shoulders, her fingers laced through his dark hair to keep her balance. After all, it wasn't all the time she got to be nine feet tall.

"I have a lady waiting for me," Talzen replied smartly, his eyes darkening as he gazed in the direction of the dormitories.

Bo just rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath, "Unfortunate wench."

"I'm kinda tired," the Titan shrugged, "I was just gonna go get a little sleep."

"Wrong answer!" Lana laughed as she dropped her palms to either side of his head and wrenched his head in the direction of the Hangar. Unfortunately, the Titan knew what she was implying.

"Isn't it a bit early for drinks?"

"Never!" the Huntress answered.

"Of course not," Nolano shook his head as he made his way toward the lounge. Then, as an afterthought, he questioned, "Bo?"

"Not a chance," the other man shook his head, laughing as he followed the Warlock in the direction of the dormitories.

The Hunter Lounge, as it was coined, was always the most popular one-stop shop for Guardians going into or coming out of the field. It served the Tower's best selection of alcohol and hosted the best collection of Guardians with loose morals. There was food, of course, and a jukebox filled with music from artists that nobody'd ever heard of.

Lana was usually kept on a tight leash when it came to liquor but always jumped at a chance to get Nolano alone there, liberally abusing his tendency to be, in general, a pushover.

As the Titan had expected, the bar was relatively empty. It was not quite drinking prime time by the Tower's clock. The Huntress slid down the Titan's strong frame, taking a perch on a stool at the bar as two shots of her 'usual' were promptly poured by the able-handed Seamus.

"So Tiny, why the long face?" she asked just before downing the first of her tequila shots in a single go.

'Well this is just wonderful,' the Titan thought. The tiny Huntress couldn't hold her liquor to save her life. He took a seat next to her, shaking his head sadly, "I think I let someone get, I don't know, wrongfully punished… maybe?"

"Why?" Lana shot him a skeptical glance. "That chick Tal' was talking about sounded like a total twat-wad!"

"She wasn't that bad. You know how he exaggerates everything."

Then, leaning forward, Lana narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice, "Was she hot?"

Nolano squirmed uncomfortably on the stool beside the violet-haired Huntress, letting his eyes fall to his hands, where his fingers were nervously at work ripping apart a cardboard coaster that had been left on the bar by someone long before he'd taken up sitting there. The Titan was thankful that the little Huntress he'd brought with him had slowed down her usual binge drinking, instead choosing to continue conversing with him. Her second shot sat forgotten on the dark surface of the bar.

When a new guest entered the establishment, a bell that had been positioned at the top of the doorway rang through the relative silence of the bar. Both Nolano and Lana turned around in unison.

He watched a slight-framed Huntress hesitate at the entrance, scan the establishment without allowing those haunting green eyes of hers to fall on any patron in particular, and then proceed to a place located at the far corner of the bar. The path she chose to reach that seat had been deliberate and he'd had to look away, back to his hands and the shreds of the coaster he'd spread across the counter top.

Her armor was strikingly similar to that worn by the Huntress he'd met that day in the Cosmodrome; sandy sable with accents of crimson and white. Her boots had been rust brown, stained in the dust of creamy white limestone from the caves in the Russian back-country. Something inside just told him that it was her.

Her voice, soft and feminine, rang out to the bartender, "Evening, Seamus."

"Serra," the retired Guardian replied gruffly. "Been a while since I seen you around, kid."

Nolano's heart started to race as he remembered Bo identifying her for Cayde.

"She _is_ hot! That's her, isn't it, Tiny?" Lana grinned, nudging his shoulder as she took a large sip of her second shot. If only she'd been drunk enough that she wouldn't have been so quick to piece such information together.

"Quiet, Lana," he pleaded, but made no other response as he placed a supportive hand on her back to steady his slightly woozy friend, already starting to become a bit tipsy. To be perfectly honest, Nolano had no idea what the other Huntress looked like without her helmet on. Whether she was Human, Awoken, or Exo… the Titan turned slowly to look at the very woman he'd happened upon earlier that morning.

She was pretty, maybe downright beautiful, but it was hard to say for sure in the dim light of the bar.

Brown hair, lighter at the top of her head where the sun must have brought about natural highlights. She wore it long, half of it pulled away from her face but still a few dark strands of hair fell forward towards her eyes. Her hair was longer than most of the other female Guardians he'd been brave enough to admire from the relative safety of being seated halfway across the bar from them. She had high cheekbones, dark eyelashes, and arched eyebrows.

"Such is life," the brunette shrugged, her eyes still fixed to the barkeeper.

Yeah, she was pretty.

"What'll it be?" Seamus asked her.

"Whiskey, neat."

Nolano frowned, catching out of the corner of his eye that the barkeeper had placed the glass he had previously been polishing in front of the lone Guardian. He turned in the direction of the other pair of Guardians to grab the bottle and returned to where she sat to pour her drink, just as she'd asked.

"Leave the bottle, if you please."

And her words, the way she'd said them with a glimmer of sadness laced underneath… Nolano felt his chest constrict. He had to look away. He was partially to blame for this.

Seamus asked skeptically, "This ain't gonna turn into another show like last time, is it?"

"My word," she laughed lightly.

At the same moment, a Fireteam of six walked into the bar but Nolano didn't turn to look at them.

"T-that works?" Lana asked Nolano, flabbergasted as she placed open palms over his chest plate. "You can just-just ask for the whole bottle?"

Smirking, he took both of Lana's wrists and moved her hands off of his chest, leaning over to reply, "For some people that works."

"You're payin' for all you drink, Serra," Seamus called over his shoulder, as he made his way over to the violet-haired Huntress who was now motioning him over. His voice was a lot more polite when he asked her, "What can I get you, darlin'?"

Lana asked innocently, twisting a strand of dark purple hair around one of her tiny fingers, "Can I have a bottle, too, please?"

Seamus looked at Nolano.

"No," the Titan shook his head. "That's not – let's not do that. Maybe just one more?"

"Vodka sprite!" Lana chirped happily, finishing what remained of her tequila shot.

Nolano glanced across the bar to look at the Huntress named Serra once more. She had her attention turned to her whiskey and was swirling the glass that she'd poured. Nolano was taken by the way that the amber liquid caught the dim, grimy light of the bar; he watched her finish the glass in a single gulp, gracefully pouring herself another and quickly disposing of it in the same manner she had the first.

"Slow down, sweetie," the Titan watched as an older Hunter slid between her barstool and the empty one beside it. He was leaning on his forearms against the bar, watching the woman beside him. The five remaining members of his Fireteam took two tables slightly behind where the Titan was seated with Lana. He motioned towards the barkeeper but kept his eyes on Serra.

"You brought the peanut gallery with you, Hunter," she lowered her voice, scowling over at him as she poured herself a third drink. But she didn't finish this one nearly so fast as she had the two that had come before it.

"Hey, Isaac!" one of the Titans called from the table behind Nolano. "Bring cards, will ya?"

"And yer lady," an Awoken Warlock in a crimson jacket added, smirking for the collective snickers from the group of men surrounding him.

The Hunter nodded, leaning against the Huntress' shoulder as he pried the bottle from her fingertips before she could make to refill the glass that she had just emptied. He took a long drink from the bottle; it had already been just under a quarter of the way full when he'd taken it – but he seemed smug when he sat it back in front of her, significantly less full than it had been when he'd taken it from her. If she had wanted to protest, he silenced her with a confident, "Heard ya pissed Cayde off somethin' fierce, woman. What'd he give you this time?"

"Two weeks."

And the Titan could almost feel the disappointment seeping from her, like smoke as it constricted his airways and his breath caught in the back of his throat. She put on a brave face for the other Hunter but Nolano could read her underlying sadness through the shadows; silent and substantial.

The Hunter nodded, leaning forward against the bar on his forearms. His voice was low as he leaned over to whisper something that Nolano couldn't make out, pressing his forehead against Serra's temple. She'd relaxed, smiling, for whatever it was he'd chosen to share with her. And Nolano looked away, embarrassed that he'd been staring at them.

"Of course I'll show you how it's done, old man," she pushed the whiskey back towards him. "But if I'm to carry you through the Crucible, you should help me out with a little more of this, wouldn't you agree?"

"I prefer it when you call me Hunter," but he took the bottle and helped himself to a long draw.

"No fair!" Lana pouted at Nolano's right, catching his attention as she paused to take a sip from the bright pink straw that the barkeeper had managed to find especially for her. "The hot ones never talk to me! They must think I'm with you, Tiny!"

"You're the one who brought me here," he reminded, failing to hide all of his irritation for her implied message.

"Hurry it up, Isaac," the same Titan from earlier called out, motioning towards the empty hands of the other Guardians gathered at his table.

The bartender had put a tray of drinks before the Hunter and he'd responded by pushing a bit of glimmer back across the bar to Seamus. He turned back to Serra, asking, "Come sit with us?"

She glanced over her shoulder at the rowdy table of men behind her, not moving her head to carry out the action. She bit her lower lip, her features softening – probably she thought Nolano wasn't still watching her, hypnotized by even the most subtle of her mannerisms. But she shook her head, murmuring, "Not tonight. I'm not really in the mood for…"

And at her pause, she waved her hand in the air; a graceful flick of her wrist as though the motion alone could convey her meaning.

Isaac laughed, offering her a sideways hug as he pulled her shoulder against his chest, "Don't wallow, sweetheart. Cayde never stays mad at you for long."

She nodded, her eyes locked on the whiskey bottle still in front of her.

"And if ya can't make yer own friends," the Hunter chuckled, his voice light and teasing, "Mine're right over there."

Nolano froze when Serra's eyes skimmed the entire bar, locking with his. A glimmer of recognition passed between the pair and the Titan immediately dropped the cardboard coaster that was still in his hands.

Just as the Hunter, Isaac, stood to carry a tray of drinks and deck of cards to his waiting Fireteam, Serra vacated her stool and brought her bottle of whiskey with her as she made to stand before Nolano. She smirked, stifling a smile with a slow pull from the bottle of whiskey and she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, challenging the dark-haired Titan, "You never answered me earlier, Titan."

As she slid her open bottle of liquor across the bar, she stood between the two Guardians with her full attention on the Titan that she'd just taken to interrupting. Nolano's eyes widened when he felt her left hand land on his knee. The way her green eyes glimmered mischievously up at him as she let her fingertips run lightly up his thigh – those gorgeous green eyes that somehow still cut like poisonous daggers. And then the Huntress grabbed the front of his armor, her fingertips wrapping around the neckline to pull his face a bit closer to hers – so close that Nolano found himself lost in her features; he caught the faint, sweet smell of whiskey from her.

Confused was the state of mind that hit the Titan first. He got hugs and such all the time from Lana, but this… this was an entirely new monster. A situation he was less than equipped to handle from a stranger at a bar, regardless of how fascinating he thought she was.

And then she smiled, "You are afraid of me, aren't you?"

Afraid of her? Of course he was; if anything, he was quite frightened and uncomfortable with this whole ordeal.

"S-sorry?" the Titan stuttered, quickly averting his gaze. Her intimidating presence was enough to overwrite the jittery Guardian's mind, so he fumbled to come up with a response, "I, um, you look nice."

From beside him, Lana snorted, "Easy there, Casanova."

Nolano was relieved when Serra had released his armor to turn her full attention towards Lana. And he watched the two women stare at one another; Lana unashamed in her open admiration and Serra like she was sizing the other woman up with the same intense scrutiny she'd earlier awarded the Titan. Standing where she was, Nolano noticed that she was at eye-level with a still seated Lana; it was enough information for the Titan to deduce that this Huntress was slender, sure, but she was significantly taller than his friend.

"She's really pretty, Tiny!" Lana chirped happily.

Keeping her voice low, Serra challenged Lana, "Perhaps you should be afraid of me, too."

She didn't allow Lana to respond – Nolano could only watch, surprise evident on his expression, as Serra lunged forward at Lana. The brunette Huntress made a place for herself between Lana's thighs as her right hand found the nape of the other woman's neck, her fingers lacing through Lana's shaggy purple hair as she forced her lips over the other woman's. Then, as Serra held Lana's lips to her own, she climbed – actually climbed – up the bar stool so that she was now the taller of the two. Nolano felt his jaw drop open when Serra brought her right shin to rest just outside of Lana's left thigh, against the wooden barstool.

It was an impressive display of dominance; animalistic and carnal.

And even as the Fireteam behind them cheered their content, egging on the pair of female Guardians that they should have been carrying on with one another in such a manner, Nolano was slightly concerned for his friend. He could tell through her drunken gaze that Lana had become quite smitten with Serra – so when the taller Huntress had jumped her, Lana had all but invited the contact.

Isaac called out over his Fireteam's rumpus, "Not what I meant by making friends, Serra!"

When Nolano watched the Huntress' left hand come to flip the other Hunter off, he frowned. When she replaced her hand on Lana's hip, fingertips beginning to edge underneath the smaller woman's armor, he frowned. Serra had pulled off her gloves, pressing her chest forward against the other woman's armor until she was effectively pinned on her back against the bar. And Lana's right knee bent, her leg lacing with Serra's as she tried to pull herself even closer to the brunette.

Nolano knew his socially brave moments were few and far between but this was going to have to be one of them. Lana had enough liquor in her system that she would have likely dry humped a Frame by this point so, against the nervousness plaguing his thoughts, he determined to become to tiny Huntress' judgement call. Sure, if Serra was a lady he knew and was more comfortable with, he might have let them continue. But even if only in his subconscious, he knew he'd just told himself a white lie. Completing with Lana over a woman was something he never thought he'd have to do. His jealousy had flared, but it was soon replaced by concern. This new Huntress was a rather angry and somewhat violent individual in his current opinion. And with the influence of alcohol, he wasn't sure that letting the pair of them carry on together was such a good idea.

He was being the good guy here, of course...

The men behind them groaned in their disappointment.

"I'm sorry, really sorry," he mumbled, standing to separate the two. He picked up Lana as if she were a toy, adding, "I'm sure you're nice and everything but I'm fairly certain my friend isn't even sure where she is right now."

As if to prove his point, Lana wrapped her arms around Nolano's neck and began to nibble at his ear, purring as she did so.

"C-cut that out, Lana!" he pushed her away, unable to hide his frustration that she seemed not to have noticed that her make-out partner had changed. With Lana still being somewhat difficult, he sat back down on the stool and put the small girl on his lap. Thankfully, kinda, the violet-haired woman saw it fit more so to continue drinking than to caress a still slightly shaky Titan.

Serra only smirked, "I could have made room for you, too, ya know? What was your name?"

"No-Nolano," the Titan answered, a little taken aback by her offer. Lana had made passes at him before but it had never been anything serious. Nolano was pretty confident she'd successfully managed to hook up with Talzen, much to the Warlock's woman's displeasure, and her casual escapades with Bo were hardly a secret from their Fireteam. It was the Cheshire smile of this new Huntress that may have replaced caution with lust, but only for a moment. Even with his astounding lack of grace with women, he'd be lying if he said the dark corners of his mind hadn't pictured the bare forms of both women on top of his but, once again, only for a moment.

"Call me Serra," the Huntress took a seat on Lana's now empty barstool, pouring herself another bit of whiskey into the empty glass that the violet-haired Huntress had left behind. "What's your lady's name? I'm fond of her."

Serra; that was a lovely name. It seemed almost too nice for the brash Huntress who now sat beside him-

Wait, what was that about Lana being his lady? That notion was so ludicrous it was almost laughable but that he was fond of Lana was no surprise, either. She could be downright adorable when she wasn't drinking herself under a table.

"Oh! No, no, no; heh, uh, me and Lana aren't like that," the Titan answered quickly. "Not at all."

"But you know I wouldn't mind, Tiny," the small Huntress slurred her words, a quiet sort of pout, as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Then, she changed gears, placing a delicate hand on Serra's thigh as lust and alcohol glazed over her eyes once again.

"For not being 'like that' little lady, here, sure seems persistent."

"Lana can be a little forward sometimes," Nolano added sheepishly. "Sorry about this."

"Don't be sorry, Titan; I invited it," the Huntress smiled, her features softening as she looked at Lana. But Nolano watched her turn quickly and his eyes followed her attention. There was an Awoken Warlock standing behind her; his hair was bright red, his eyes a menacing gold; crimson – the one from earlier. Lana's reaction was to cross her arms over her chest and pout; undoubtedly under the impression that her new playmate was potentially being withdrawn.

A distinctly masculine voice purred into her ear, "Has someone been left out?"

Nolano watched in awe, jumping in surprise, as she spun quickly with her field knife already drawn. The speed with which she had reflexively reacted was impressive; when one considered the amount of alcohol she'd managed to consume on that evening, it was amazing. The cold tone of her voice caused Nolano's back to stiffen, "Touch me again and I'll have your hand for it."

Nolano found that he at least respected Serra's independent nature. She wasn't a pushover like he was.

"Easy, baby," the Warlock threw his hands up in surrender.

"Leave 'er alone, Guardian," Seamus warned from behind the bar. "She's a live cannon, that one."

But she had already turned around to face Nolano and Lana once again. Her attention was turned away from the Warlock and, from what Nolano could tell by the fierce look still melting from her otherwise angelic features, if her glare alone hadn't sent the other man sulking to a corner, he was either an idiot or had a penchant for involving himself in potentially volatile situations.

Nolano was the first to speak, "I'm sorry if you were given bad news upon your return. My squad leader has a bit of a big mouth."

"So I have you to thank for that?"

"Yes, I wanted to stop him… uh, Talzen, but I-I'm sorry," he bowed slightly as he spoke. Nolano had wanted to read something in her expression, any emotion, but her face was blank; he couldn't explain it – and her glare was most certainly not helping – but something about this Huntress had him just a little bit smitten.

"So, this Talzen of yours," she took a sip of her drink. "Tell me about him."

"Well, uh, Talzen does have a flair for embellish…" Nolano let his voice trail off as he was interrupted by a red-robed shoulder blocking part of his view of the woman before him.

"Now, you must have known I would love it if you played hard to get, baby," the Warlock had returned but this time with a fresh glass of whiskey on ice for the Huntress he'd set his eyes on.

Before he could hand it to Serra, Lana had snatched it from him, growling low in her throat as her eyes narrowed dangerously up at a Warlock twice the size of her. Nolano, in turn, only held up his hands defensively. Whatever this idiot wanted with the fiery Huntress he'd been conversing with, the Titan wanted no part of it for himself and Lana.

When the Warlock raised a hand to protest Lana's actions, Serra grabbed his wrist, swinging his arm behind his back and pressing his chest and the side of his face against the bar. Even slightly shorter than the Warlock as she was, she had been able to manage an impressive amount of leverage over his back to hold him in place; his wrist was wrenched painfully between his shoulder blades and the look on his face was enough indication Nolano needed to deduce that, any harder, and she was going to dislocate his shoulder.

With eyes wide, Nolano watched Serra lean over the Warlock to growl into his ear, "I'll take worse than your hand, little boy, if you so much as look at her again."

As the Warlock made to struggle against the Huntress' grasp on his wrist, Serra only pulled harder. Licking the shell of his hear, she added, "It's a shame you had to be so rude, Warlock. You're something rather handsome, I'll give you that."

The pinned guardian grimaced, relaxing against the bar top when she eased her grip.

Then, from Nolano's right, Isaac grabbed the Warlock by the scruff of his neck and chuckled, "I'll take it from here, sweetie; this one's my responsibility."

As the older Hunter removed the Warlock, the men still seated at the table he'd left behind were laughing animatedly at his failure.

"Why did you s-stand up for her?" the taller Titan asked.

Serra took her seat, finishing her glass of whiskey, as she replied as though it were the most obvious of answers in the world, "Isaac told me to make friends."

Nolano pushed Serra's bottle of whiskey outside of Lana's reach, pondering, "A-and you do...everything he says?"

Her eyes glimmered and she hid a smile behind her hand, "Feeling threatened?"

Nolano might have lost his voice, then – but something about the confidence he felt holding onto another woman in his lap emboldened him to play along with what he could only presume was her attempt at conversation, "Um, should I, Serra?"

But then Lana hiccupped in his lap, both guardians paused to look at her.

"Is she going to be alright, Titan?"

Following Lana's hand to an empty glass, he discovered that she had, in the short amount of time the Warlock had interrupted their conversation, finished the entirety of the drink that he'd brought for Serra. Nolano's face bent into a pained look of annoyance.

"I uh…I think she'll be fine. She just needs-" and Lana vomited, voiding the contents of her stomach into her and Nolano's laps. He sighed, "A little sleep."

He was slow to stand, trying to avoid the small puddle of her puke while still cradling the almost-incoherent Huntress gently against his chest. She moaned a bit with discomfort, still clutching her shot glass.

"I think I'd better go," the Titan offered Serra a meek smile before giving her a slight bow. As he hurried away, he added, "It was a pleasure meeting you."

On the down side, Lana was going to be rather annoyed when she woke up much later that night that he hadn't invited Serra to join them; it was a matter Nolano knew that she would take out on him. But this had been the most eventful day that he'd had in quite a long time. For better or worse, he was glad that he'd met Serra.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: Oh yeah, we totally own Destiny, in fact I alone funded, coded, tested, marketed, and distributed this game. Yeah, no I didn't, how would that have even been possible!?  
_

* * *

The next morning, Serra awoke early before the sun had quite finished rising. She was dressed in a simple long tank top and short brown shorts – and, as she'd been decommissioned from service to the Traveler on the previous evening, the young Guardian saw no purpose in hurrying to start her day. So she'd simply opened one of the double paned windows of her dormitory and climbed out onto the narrow ledge outside to watch as the stars were faded out by sunlight. Pulling her knees to her chest and resting her chin in the small place between them, she started when her Ghost whirred to life, "You're awake early, Guardian."

"Couldn't sleep," she confessed evenly.

"Something on your mind?"

Pale green eyes narrowed as she straightened her back; she was still focused on the horizon and a mountain range that flanked the northernmost edges of the Last City. Her voice was a low murmur when she replied, "Whether or not I'm going to feel bad for the lesson I have to teach that Warlock for running his foul mouth to the Vanguards."

"And how, might I ask, do you plan to do that?"

"You're going to figure out when he's next entering the Crucible," she stated in a matter of fact tone.

"I am?"

Serra nodded, leaning back against the metal window frame behind her. She wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them tightly against her chest as she took a deep breath of the cool morning air. Turning sideways to look at her Ghost, she smiled, "Until then, we rendezvous with Isaac to train."

"He's too good to you, Guardian."

"I know, Ghost," she smiled something bittersweet, letting her eyes sweep one last time over the mountain range. As she climbed back through the window, Serra ran a shaky hand through her hair and crossed her dormitory to where a pile of forgotten armor was lying in neat order atop her desk. She picked through the pieces, running her ungloved hands over a chest plate, then a helmet. When she selected the items that she wanted, she laid them carefully out over her unmade bed, picking up a pair of boots that were immediately dropped to the floor beside it.

She dressed quickly, fastening dark brown boots over her tan pants. She took her cloak, red with the crest of New Monarchy emblazoned in white across the back and hurried down from her dormitory. Any day of training in the Crucible would start with Shaxx – so after Serra had secured her helmet under her arm and secured her hand cannon in the holster at her waist, she'd gone to him straightaway.

There was already a small collection of Guardians milling about; it seemed, however, that the Quartermaster had opted to sleep in that morning. Isaac appeared to have done the same; as Serra settled into a corner, comforted by the thought that she was obscured by shadow, she crossed her arms over her chest and smirked, waiting. She was leaning against a railing with her right foot crossed over her left, green eyes inspecting the boots on her feet when she overhead the tail end of a conversation between two Warlocks.

"I heard today Shaxx has prepared a contest to be conducted in tandem. Single elimination – a fight to the death."

"You mean a fight until the opponent cannot continue.

"Yeah, whatever – no respawns, no revives."

"You're entering?"

"Of course! I've been waiting for an opportunity like this to showcase what I've learned."

"Do you need a partner?"

"Yeah, want to join me?"

"Absolutely, mate!"

The Huntress grit her teeth, trying to appear as though she was disinterested. It seemed she wouldn't be on the other side of Isaac's hand cannon today, after all. Such a shame; it was always enjoyable stalking him through the back hallways and narrow passages of whatever arena their Ghosts would transmat them to. It was no matter to her, however; their chances of success would be greatly improved if they were to partner with one another. Their normal shenanigans could be conducted at a different time, a different day.

"Mornin' sweetie," a familiar voice greeted her. "Didn't expect to see ya up so early."

Serra's eyes shot open; she hadn't realized that she had closed them. But she leaned forward as she made no attempt to hide her smile, "You're late, Isaac. I was about to find a new partner."

"You've got no friends besides me, woman, and we both know it."

It was no mystery that she had precious few friends wandering through Tower and, while there were a few more acquaintances than friends, there wasn't another besides Isaac that she would trust to watch her back in the Crucible. There might have been a few others before him, however, but she banished the thought before it could fully form in her mind. She'd been a Guardian long enough that she ought to have someone besides this Hunter beside her – but she'd never come across a situation where she'd needed anyone else. He'd never asked about her past and she'd never asked about his; they were Guardians – suffice it to say that they'd each lost some friends along the way.

Besides, if Shaxx were left to pick a partner for her, there was no telling what she'd get.

Titans were too self-serving and Warlocks too conservative to compliment her particular flair when dropped within the Crucible.

"I take it you _are_ still looking for a second?"

"You asking, old man?"

"Show a little respect for your elders!" he laughed, causing the Huntress to smile as she brushed back a strand of her light brown hair. He was older than her, Isaac, and taller too. To anyone around them, they might have appeared as a mentor and his charge – but Serra was happy that he respected her independence well enough not to try to tie her down. They were friends before anything else; they'd happened upon each other by accident and that was all that mattered.

"Come along, then, Hunter; let's get in line."

As she'd said the words, she had kicked the helmet at her feet into the air, catching it gracefully in both hands as she pushed off of the wall and followed after Isaac. They were in line behind the same pair of Warlocks that she'd overheard earlier. After they'd entered the draw, Serra followed Isaac back to the Plaza, opting to remain silent – without the added stimulation that her whiskey would provide, she'd never fancied herself much of a conversationalist. She was glad that Isaac seemed the type of person who liked to hear himself speak; his words would compensate for where hers fell short.

Across the way, she thought she caught a glimpse of Nolano leaning against the railing – the Titan was tall enough, sure – but it was impossible to know definitely given the way the sunrise behind him was silhouetting his figure. And his armor wasn't crimson – it was a pale blue-grey, lightweight. Something similar to what the Titan fancied in the Crucible. There was another Titan standing next to the one she'd thought could be Nolano; she didn't recognize him but her attention was quickly redirected when the Hunter at her side asked, "You gonna be able to keep your mind offa that Titan long enough to be useful to me today, sweetie?"

So it was him. Nolano the Titan.

She smirked, narrowing her eyes, as she snapped back, "It was his lady I wanted."

But even as she'd said the words, she had doubted them.

Isaac seemed to have sensed this, as well, because he laughed as he patted her back. Shaking his head he added, "As long as you don't hold back, sweetie, you an' me are gonna get along just fine. Now let's get to Orbit and wait for Shaxx to send along his instructions, yeah?"

She nodded, following after him towards the direction of the Hangar.

* * *

Serra remained crouched for a few moments after she'd rematerialized – the sensation of transmat had never been one she'd weathered well. She drew two deep breaths before pulling her hand cannon from her waist. Her eyes had been focused on the ground when she'd opened them and she couldn't help but hold back a frown for what it was she saw.

Mars.

She hated Mars.

The illuminated information for the Firebase turned Crucible arena scrolled across the small data feed nestled within her helm. It was textbook data she was usually quick to ignore as she took a handful of the red dirt up with her, letting it fall from the spaces left between her fingertips as she stood. It flowed east on the breeze and the lithe Huntress could feel the tail of her cape being pulled slightly away from her as she gazed at her own reflection in the visor of Isaac's helmet. He came to stand in front of her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she steadied herself – but the pair didn't speak.

"Begin, Guardians!" Shaxx's strong voice sounded over their communicators.

Serra wasted no time, sprinting forward and utilizing her Blink technique to land inside an elevated portion of the abandoned base. Her sensors had still not picked up a trace of movement from her enemy but she crouched low all the same, choosing to remain cautious. As she heard a grenade explode in the distance, she crept closer, hiding in a hallways with her back pressed against the right side of a doorway that led to a large, open area.

Inside, the same Warlock and Hunter she'd encountered the day before were bickering with one another. Something about Bo needing to be more careful with his grenades – not to detonate them before he saw their enemy. Serra smirked, murmuring aloud, "Must be my lucky day, Isaac."

The taller Hunter had followed her. He was standing behind her, moving slowly away from the door; he'd seen all he needed but kept his voice low when he asked, "They a few more of your friends, sweetie?"

"That's the Warlock with a particularly troublesome affinity for embellishment," she murmured. "I think I'd like to teach him a thing or two about honor; when I'm finished with him, perhaps he'll make a habit of filling his field reports with facts."

Offering Serra his hand, Isaac helped her to her feet. He didn't make a move to charge in on the unsuspecting Guardians, instead choosing to stare at his friend for a moment longer than he might have normally. Cocking his head to the side, he took off in the direction in which he'd come, leaving Serra to carve her own path.

She moved quickly, crossing through two different rooms to circle back around to where she'd last seen the Warlock and his Hunter. But neither Guardian was still standing in the same room. Gauging by her radar, the pair had decided to split up. She smirked, thinking to herself, 'Smart Hunter; nice work, Bo,' before jumping up to an elevated platform created by unused Cabal ammunition. She threw one backwards glance over her shoulder, studying the ledge behind her that housed a large opening where, if she wasn't careful, she might find herself taken unaware.

Crouching low to the ground, she activated her camouflage and disappeared from sight. Then she waited.

It was not long before she detected movement from the doorway directly ahead of her, so she crawled to the edge of the platform where she was hiding. She watched the Warlock Talzen stroll through the doorway with a shotgun clutched close to his chest. Was he nervous that he'd yet to happen upon his enemy here? The Huntress licked her lower lip and drew a deep breath; she fired only two shots before she replaced her hand cannon at the holster in her waist. Each of the shots connected with their intended targets – Talzen's hands.

In the same instant that he dropped his shotgun to the ground, Serra launched herself off of her elevated hiding place and landed directly on top of the Warlock. But she wasn't met without resistance, he was barely able to knock her hand away as she pulled the trigger once more. An amusing effort, but still futile, the backside of handcannon was whipped across his head with tremendous force, causing him to stagger back.

She pushed him to the ground and pinned his larger frame underneath her slender form so that she was straddling his hips. The blow had disoriented him, warping his fix on the present, yet not enough to impair his knowledge of what was happening. He grunted, grappled for his shotgun, and struggled to get away. But the small Huntress stilled his hands by pulling out her field knife and sticking it through the cuffs of his dark blue robe, effectively pinning him to the ground with his hands above his head.

Her voice was low when she leaned over him to whisper, "Hello Warlock – Talzen, was it?"

"Who the fuck are you?" he squirmed – but Serra had him effectively under her control.

"I'm offended you don't remember me; it was only yesterday."

She pulled her hand cannon out of the holster at her waist and dropped it to rest upon his chest. He'd stilled as he considered who she might be and Serra remained patient, letting him work it out for himself.

"You're Bo's girl, right?"

"No," she replied patiently, letting her right hand fall to rest on top of the gun over his heart. "Try again."

"Your name is Cecelia," he sounded sure of himself. "You used to run with Bo. He told me all about you, Huntress."

"Is that so?" she cocked her head to the side. When he made no reply, she continued, "Then he must have mentioned I have a short patience for liars and cheats. Now which of the two do you suppose you are?"

"Crazy bitch," he muttered, lifting one of his knees off of the ground like he intended to kick her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she dodged left, avoiding the blow, while in the same motion bringing the barrel of the gun to press down upon his throat.

The Warlock stilled, struggling in vain to tear the fabric of his sleeves so that he could remove his hands from their prison. But he ceased when the edge of the field knife began to cut into his wrists. Running her free hand over his chest and trailing her fingertips under the fabric of his jacket, she shook her head with a disappointed 'tch' when he recoiled from her touch; he looked upon her as though she'd burned him. Sometimes the little Huntress wondered if her sexuality wasn't actually her greatest weapon, after all.

"Did you want to answer me, Warlock?"

"I don't have to answer to you."

"No," and she was smiling behind her helmet. "I suppose you don't."

He remained silent as she straightened his jacket, perhaps still shocked for having been captured and pinned down in the manner that he had. He'd been caught unaware; a sloppy decision on his part not to be mindful of his sensors. And Serra could tell that he was starting to grow angry that she was playing with him in the ways that she was. But this was the Crucible and it was her damn right to do so if she pleased – if he'd let himself wander into her trap.

"At least challenge me to a fair fight, Serra," he muttered. "Let me up to properly defend myself."

"Says the man who fraudulently conveyed his Fireteam's field scouting report?" she teased lightly, tracing where she knew his collarbone would have been. "Won't you tell me one of the stories you made up for Cayde? I'd at least like to understand for what it is I'm being punished."

"So I overstated, Huntress; what's it matter? You were out of line!"

"Oh, darling, 'overstated' is an understatement," she chuckled, shaking her head as she fired one round from her hand cannon into the Warlock's left shoulder. Her sensors told her that she'd effectively melted away two thirds of his solar shielding but even as he writhed in pain beneath her, she only shifted her hips over his to account for his movement. She waited for him to calm down before leaned over his face to run her fingers over his forearm whispering, "That was for lying to my Vanguard."

"Bo!" the Warlock's voice echoed around the empty chamber. Then, more softly as it cracked in the middle of the syllable, "Bo?"

"Your Hunter is not here to save you, Warlock," she frowned, firing the second round into the Warlock's right shoulder. She'd picked her placement carefully; not enough to end his round – but she'd sent a very clear message. In all honesty, Serra imagined that it all hurt pretty badly, what she was doing to him. He'd screamed again, struggled violently underneath her. But she still held him firmly against the ground.

Normally, when one was fired upon in the Crucible, the final blow would come quickly. If the Guardian under fire managed to escape, it was normally thanks to adrenaline that the sharp, biting pain any bullet would leave behind was dulled. Of course, some bullets hurt worse than others – and she thought of Bo, the Traitor, her former ally. She felt a tinge of the sting from three rounds fired from his pulse rifle and, even then, years later, she couldn't decide if the bullets had been what hurt worse or the betrayal.

But this Warlock before her? His shielding was gone. His heartrate, his breath was elevated to an alarming rate. The last shot it would require to finish him would hurt tremendously. Serra frowned, wondering if his physical pain was anything compared to how it had felt to be decommissioned from the Traveler's service and all the face she'd lost with the Vanguard for the self-gratification of this Warlock's ridiculous pride, for the pieces of her past that she was certain Bo had not cared to divulge.

"All this over a warsat," his voice trembled more violently than his body. And Serra ran her hand down the side of his helmet, pushing his gaze away from hers. "P-please, woman. Show some c-compassion."

"This was about a warsat, Talzen, until you crossed the line and presumed to discern my motives," she spat, her disgust with the Warlock evident. "You took my honor so I shall have your pride. Let every one of your Fireteam members know that you begged for me to deliver you your suffering."

And she fired the last two rounds into the side of his helmet, wrenching her hunting knife out of the ground and replacing it in the holster at her thigh.

Serra stood quickly, gazing down at the Warlock with a heavy sadness weighing against her chest as she whispered, "And let Bo know I obliged."

It was by the sound of two gunshots that she was reminded to focus her attention back on her present circumstances. She hurried away from Talzen, following in the direction that she'd heard the commotion, to find Isaac standing over the fallen figure of Bo.

"You take care 'a that Warlock, sweetie?"

"I did," Serra responded, reloading her hand cannon with a cold, calculating precision about her movements. Had she looked to her partner, she might have noticed the way that he shivered for the cold tone and her poised posture. She continued to look down at Bo, even as Isaac wrapped an arm around her waist to bring her shoulder flush against his chest in celebration, even as Shaxx declared, "Good work, Guardians!" over their comms.


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: Anybody notice the Titan helmet sitting on the table in Eris's new booth? Now I wonder why that's there... XD_

* * *

It had been an early morning for the Titan as he'd snuck himself out of Lana's dormitory and back into his own. He'd spent the better part of his evening monitoring her breathing, doing what little he could to try to make her comfortable. Though Nolano knew that it was not his fault she'd drunk herself to the point of sickness, he simply couldn't bring himself to leave Lana, his best friend in the world, to suffer for her decisions all alone.

He closed his eyes to the gleaming early morning sun, bathing his immediate surroundings in warmth, as he stepped onto the Tower's Plaza; despite the early hour, the hustle and bustle of activity was already beginning to build up for the day. There were new missions to be completed, bounties for the Tower's allies to be fulfilled, and maybe, just maybe, a new Guardian out there who had just found his Light.

Rather than return to the silence of his own dormitory or wander towards the cafeteria for breakfast, Nolano had taken to leaning against the outside railing to watch the sunrise. It was a luxury that he hadn't been awarded in quite a long time, watching something so beautiful from the safety of the Tower, his home. But as much as he tried to enjoy the view for all that it was, thoughts of the fiery little Huntress, Serra, continued to claw their way into his mind. This was a ridiculous string of thoughts, all equating to the possibility that he might, maybe, be harboring the tiniest crush on the Huntress.

She was his opposite in every way.

She was more likely to wish him dead, perhaps even by her own hands, than to feel any sort of attraction towards him at all. There were a thousand different reasons that rushed to him immediately when he thought about why he shouldn't like her – and what, that she was pretty was enough to trump each and every one of those cautious reservations? But still such thoughts plagued his mind; against all reason and his better sense of judgement, it wasn't just that she was attractive – it was the way she hid her sadness behind such a careful mask of impulsivity and indifference. Nolano was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't hear one of his fellow Titans approach.

"Haven't seen you up this early in a while, brother," the other man's voice caused Nolano to jump slightly. He straightened to his full height as he turned to greet the Awoken male with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry, Kaiser! I, uh, just wanted some fresh air, I guess," the taller man replied.

"You're nervous like you just snuck outta your sweetheart's dorm room," the Awoken chuckled as he moved to stand beside Nolano, taking in the view of the Traveler.

Nolano coughed, laughed hesitantly, scratched the back of his head nervously – but he didn't reply.

Kaiser glanced sideways, hiding a grin, "You told her you were leaving, didn't you?"

"I, uh, I-I mean – Lana and I aren't like that!" and he shook his head, waving his hands quickly before him to emphasize his point and make the other Titan understand that this was all just a misunderstanding. "I mean, she had too much to drink so I, uh, I t-took care of her. Th-that's all!"

"Nothing wrong with that, my friend," the Awoken chuckled, nudging Nolano's side gently with his elbow as he turned back towards the Traveler. "If I know one thing for certain, brother, you do nothing without honor in your intentions."

Nolano turned to lean against the balcony's railing again, his gaze following Kaiser's towards the Traveler before settling on the mountain range, clouded in a slight haze as the sun finished cresting over even their tallest peaks.

The pair of men was silent for a long while before Kaiser added, "Although, if I'm to be honest, it seems like something is bothering you."

"I guess you could say that."

"Well, what's on your mind, brother?"

"Er-" Nolano hesitated, closing his eyes and sighing. "Well it's… you're just going to think it's stupid."

"Try me."

And even though Nolano hadn't looked up at Kaiser, he could tell that the other man was smiling.

"What if," and he paused, shaking his head. "What if you think you like a girl that's brash, angry, crude, and just a little vengeful?"

"Sounds like my ex," Kaiser chuckled, but he stopped when he noticed that the other Titan was serious. There was a pause for a while as Kaiser seemed to be carefully considering his next words. His voice was grave when he finally said, "It sounds like your antithesis if you ask me."

And Nolano was slow to shake his head, unsure what it was those words had made him feel. Relief? Disappointment?

"But it also sounds like the other half to your whole."

"Huh?" the taller Titan turned to look at Kaiser, then, making no attempt to hide his surprise that the other man had contradicted the meaning that Nolano had discerned from his first statement, albeit indirectly.

"Don't sweat the details, brother," Kaiser placed a reassuring hand on Nolano's shoulder, chuckling as he removed his grip to give the taller man a pat on the back. "What you need right now is a little workout to clear your mind."

"Well I… I suppose I could sign up for the Crucible today," Nolano agreed, turning over his shoulder in the direction of the stairway that led to Shaxx and the Vanguards. He quickly turned away when he noticed Serra ascend the staircase; the same Hunter he'd seen her with the night before at the bar was strolling alongside her, leading the way towards the Hangar.

"That's the spirit!" Kaiser seemed to have ignored Nolano's reaction, pumping his fist in the air before the other Titan to express his resolve. "I hear the test today is fighting in pairs, teams of two duke'n it out. So how's about you and I go show some of these other Guardians what a couple of Titans can do."

* * *

He was already three matches ahead on the day when Nolano felt himself overcome, yet again, with the sensation of trans-materialization. When his vision cleared, he was greeted with quite a sinister sight; the almost unnatural darkness that clouded an area filled with the sharp edges of Vex architecture. The plants that sprouted from the rocks seemed to excrete an aura of decay while specs of light danced so quickly in and out of his vision that he questioned whether they were really there at all. It was disturbingly clear evidence that the mechanical hive mind, crippled but not destroyed with the defeat of Aetheon, was still very much an active threat.

The behemoth Titan turned to look out at the bleak backdrop of geometrically aligned flora; the unmistakable calling card of the Black Garden.

Nolano, who would have by now expected some words of encouragement from the seasoned vet' he'd partnered with, turned to the place the other Titan had rematerialized. He found him deep in thought, inspecting his fusion rifle.

"Kaiser?" he peeped, unsure, himself, why he was whispering. His voice had been low enough that it took a moment for the other Titan to realize that he was being hailed.

"Sorry, brother, just thinking through a few tactics, is all," he replied as he held the rifle behind his back, letting it magnetically snap back into place.

"Do you know who, um, who we're fighting?" Nolano asked as he cautiously peeked over the edge that he knew led down to the primary part of the arena.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Kaiser replied, seeming to lose himself in his thoughts once more; perhaps he was trying to recall the owner of the rather distinct engines of a red jumpship Nolano had managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of before it had disappeared entirely into the Martian atmosphere. The taller Titan remained silent, pulling one of his gloves further up his forearm. When the older Titan continued, he sighed, "It's quite a difficult draw; this battle won't be like our first few."

That statement didn't sit well with Nolano at all. He knew with the same certainty that the Tower was his home that Kaiser was far out of his league; whoever stood at the other end of the Parthenon must have been a tremendously capable Soldier of Light to elicit such a sincere statement from the older Guardian.

Shifting his weight uncomfortably, Nolano took a slow breath, remembering the other matches they'd already weathered to emerge victorious. A pair of Warlocks overcome easily in their warmup match – Nolano had offered himself up as a surprise distraction, following Kaiser's observation of, "Well, you're big; just give 'em a little fright." And then Kaiser, himself, had snuck up behind the pair of them to finish their round.

Then, in the second round, he'd found himself facing a Warlock and a Hunter. They had offered a bit more of a challenge but were still put away rather easily. Nolano had placed his fusion grenade perfectly in the center of the Warlock's helm; she had been lying prone on the other side of an elevator shaft with her Hunter crouched just outside. When the grenade had exploded, the blast had ended the round for the pair of them.

The last match had been challenging; a Titan and a Hunter that Nolano might have compared to himself and Talzen were the pair of them to ever work together in the Crucible. They presented a unique challenge: near flawless teamwork. Individually they wouldn't have presented the largest threat, but together they were powerful. But not enough so to stand up to Kaiser's might.

"Stick together and you might survive!"

Nolano's attention snapped back into focus as he turned to Kaiser for guidance. Based purely on how quiet, how cautious the other Titan was being, Nolano felt he had a good reason to quake in his boots. He followed the Awoken man slowly as he leapt down from the platform, wasting no time in moving towards the center of the arena.

"Eyes up, Titan," Kaiser commanded before he waved his left hand in the direction that he wanted Nolano to proceed. The taller male hesitated for a moment before he moved; he didn't like the prospect of running into the Guardian that the seasoned warrior he'd come here with considered to be a threat. Then, as though he'd sensed Nolano's hesitation, Kaiser added, "Trust me, I've got a plan, brother."

The thought was as comforting as it could be but Nolano still had his doubts. He briskly hurried to the far wall, sliding his back up against the stone. He held his pulse rifle at the ready as he slowly peeked out down the long corridor. He was pleasantly surprised not to find the glint of a high powered scope looking back at him. With the lack of an encamped sniper, the Titan was able to slide behind another piece of cover further up the corridor before shuffling his way forward and past a flight of curved stairs.

With his back to the wall once more, he crept his way up to the oddly soothing sounds of a waterfall that washed down the center of the temple. The way the water fell was rather mesmerizing, drawing the Titan in closer as he reached towards it to let the water flow over his gloved hand. It was the telltale sound of plants being crushed against stone that hit his ears that brought Nolano back to attention; what he was hearing, he knew, was the footfall of the swift but light form of an approaching Guardian.

He turned towards the direction of the approaching footsteps, bracing up against the small pedestal nearby as he drew his shotgun and held it at the ready. But before he could begin to process the newcomer's proximity to his location, he felt an abrupt weight crash against his shoulder. It had been his movement, he knew, the way that he'd turned so slightly that at the last moment he'd caused the intruder to fall, careening dangerously across the stone floor. It might have scared him had he not been at the ready or had the weight difference between himself and the other Guardian been more substantial.

"Shit!"

He watched as a small Huntress scrambled to her feet, turning with her shotgun already drawn to face him – but she paused before him.

Then, "Nolano?"

The voice that emanated from that Guardian's helmet froze him in place as he held his own shotgun to her chest. If the cape she wore wasn't a dead giveaway then her shotgun sure as hell was. Who else besides Serra had a violet shotgun?

Before Nolano could answer, acknowledge that he recognized her or that she was right and he was who she thought, he heard an echo of footsteps a head: the direction of their enemy's starting point.

Wait – their enemy? Serra was his enemy, at least for right now, wasn't she? But the Titan didn't have time for hesitation or second guesses. Instinctively he grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back flush against his chest, and pulled her behind the safety of the waterfall with his free hand switching off the communicator at her wrist.

He froze, tensed as the sound of his shotgun brushing against hers met his ears, then he whispered, "Shh!"

After a moment's pause, he watched a Hunter come to a halt a mere matter of meters from their hiding place. Isaac was standing right before them with his back facing the waterfall and Nolano could only watch, wait. He was horrified as the Hunter turned towards the waterfall; Nolano could feel the other man's eyes boring into his own and he blinked, certain that Serra was going to give him away, struggle free from his grasp and call out to her partner. This was it – the end.

But when he opened his eyes, the Hunter was gone and Serra was squirming out of his grasp. She'd managed to wrench his hand away from her wrist, returning the function of her communicator, to stammer, "Let me go!"

He was thankful as he complied without hesitation that she'd kept her voice low.

She stepped out from behind the safety of the waterfall and Nolano followed her with cautious footsteps. She was yet to draw her shotgun on him so the Titan let his own remain at his side. It hadn't quite sunk in to him yet that he'd just had her body pressed up against his, albeit not in exactly the same way that he'd been fantasizing – so all he could do was stand there feeling smothered with… something else. Something he couldn't quite put into words. A complicated mixture of emotion strong enough to keep his mouth from moving.

"I should shoot you," she'd practically growled at him. But the Titan kept his eyes trained to her hands; she made no effort or attempt to raise her weapon. So he let his remain harmlessly pointed to the ground.

And the words fell from his lips of their own accord, "Then why don't you?"

But there was a shuffle of footsteps from the direction of Nolano's starting point in the arena and Nolano's gaze locked on Kaiser. He turned back to Serra to find that she had drawn her field knife and was fast, frightened as she pushed him aside to run away from the other Titan in the same direction she'd seen Isaac wander to earlier. The Titan could practically hear her heart racing as she gasped; the rapidity of her motions causing the crimson mark at his waist to wave lightly in the breeze she left behind.

"What was that?" Kaiser jumped down from the staircase he was standing at the top of, glancing towards an alternate route that might be utilized to cut the fleeing Huntress off. He took off after the girl in a dead sprint; the element of surprise was now lost – it mattered very little now if she should hear his footsteps.

Nolano hesitated for only a moment before he followed after the pair. He hadn't thought far enough ahead to decide what it was he'd do if he ever caught back up to them. Instead, he tried to come to grips with what had just happened. Or, rather, what didn't happen.

They'd seen each other and stalled as if either of them shooting the other would have meant a one way trip to the grave. Nolano was pretty sure he understood why he'd hesitated, why he'd pulled her into hiding underneath the waterfall. But why had Serra? Perhaps she didn't see him as a worthy adversary; which was quite a plausible possibility if you stopped to think about it. She certainly wasn't afraid of him. He doubted that she was afraid of anything, honestly.

So what had it been?

What was the source of her reluctance to pull the trigger?

Kaiser's hand cannon roared in the distance and, despite the rapid breath escaping his lips, he hurried his pace further.

When he finally happened upon the Huntress and the Titan, they were alone in the same corridor that his Fireteam had started this round in. Kaiser had Serra cornered and he was staring at her down the barrel of his gun. The taller Titan could do nothing, could not find words when he watched Serra pull the machete off of her thigh in a last-ditch effort to defend herself.

The rest happened so fast – she was engulfed, her lithe frame surrounded in vicious waves of Arc light. The bolts skipped off the terrain as lethal arcs tried to seek out anything conductive. Unlike his shorter counterpart, the Titan ducked behind a nearby pillar with his rifle back at the ready, suddenly worried that in her trance he may be caught in the cross fire.

She blocked Kaiser's first shot as though it was hardly an effort at all and Nolano flinched at the sound it made ricocheting off of her blade. It was a harsh, clanging noise – when he fired again and again, she blocked those two shots from hitting her head. Within moments, she was closing the distance between them, dancing around Kaiser's bullets as the Titan backpedaled. His attempt to get away from her was almost comical until she got herself close enough to make a first attempt at a lethal swing.

Kaiser's leap seemed almost impossible at the speed she was going – but nonetheless he had managed to escape, the Arc light licking at his legs, shaving off his shields. She was quick to change direction, locking right back on target and scorching the ground immediately surrounding her with a trail of lightning as she closed in for a second pass. She leapt into the air, expecting to cut him off only to have the Titan power slide underneath the sharp strike she made in his direction.

The moment her feet touched the ground, Nolano watched her pivot and draw in all the light she could muster before summoning a Blink Strike that landed her right in front of the opposing Titan. The last moment he'd been able to make her out, her blade had been coiled back, ready to strike the instant she came out of warp.

"Oh, Serra," Nolano muttered, closing his eyes and looking away.

She had made a grave error in her calculations.

When she would land, she was going to be met not with the face of the Titan but with the barrel of a fully charged fusion rifle. It was such a simple movement, to lean back just as she was within range, but it echoed as a testament to older Titan's discipline and years of experience.

Nolano opened his eyes to see the explosion of solar energy throw Serra's small frame backwards down the corridor. He could see, even from a few meters away, blood splattered against the inside of the visor of her helmet – her organs must have ruptured from blunt force trauma. The flames from the torrential energy of the rifle cut through armor, extinguishing what was left of her electrified super.

The sound she made, not a scream, not a pained cry. It was almost like Kaiser had stolen her breath away.

And as she helplessly watched the Titan approach her, she struggled to pull herself up against the wall that she'd landed against. How she'd managed the strength enough to muster such a feat, Nolano couldn't begin to fathom. She had to have several broken ribs from the force of the fusion rifle's blast alone – the impact she'd sustained when her body had hit the wall? She might have been looking at broken legs and broken arms, as well. How her Ghost would manage to put her back together again when all of this was done, Nolano couldn't bring himself to think about it any longer – but there she was, standing up all on her own before Kaiser.

She dropped her survival knife, showing the Titan her empty hands. Her voice was so soft as she lowered her chin, "Titan."

Kaiser picked up the Huntress' own knife, his eyes never leaving hers as he took a step forward. He put his left hand on her shoulder, catching her as he plunged the blade into the base of her neck to end her agony. His voice was low as he whispered, "Sleep now, sister."

Nolano could only watch, his jaw hanging open, as Kaiser helped her lifeless body to the floor. How had he been able to evade her strikes while she had been under the effects of what was likely the most powerful Arc Dance he'd ever had the pleasure of witnessing. It seemed unfair, almost shameful that she'd been bested – unimaginable, inconceivable. But, then again, Kaiser was the strongest Titan Nolano had ever come to know.

He hoped that she would feel no shame for how she'd come to be defeated.

"Try to pay more attention next time, kid," Isaac's voice rang through the silent corridor. Nolano started, turning his attention in the direction the voice had come from but by that time it was too late. The Hunter was already at his side, sweeping the Titan's legs out from underneath him and thrusting a knife towards his skull before he'd even hit the ground.

But with an audible grunt of dissatisfaction, the seasoned Hunter found his blade halted just inches from the Titan's helmet when his back finally touched down. A frantic, but firm grip wrapped around his wrist, keeping the knife at bay.

"Nolano!" Kaiser called as he took a step before he noticed the red glow of a trip mine blocking his path.

Unfortunately the distress in the older Titan's voice was just enough to distract Nolano as a shift hand punched his arm away, he struggled to reestablish his defense but it was in vain. With a smooth, quick motion Isaac unsheathed another knife, swiping it across the fallen Titan's neck, before jammed it in for good measure.

"Isaac." The remaining Titan greeted evenly as he shot trip mine, detonating it as the Hunter stood.

"Kaiser."

There was a tension between the two men that was so palpable it might have been run through with a field knife.

The Hunter didn't look up at the Titan as he took his time prying the bloodied weapon from his victim before flicking it clean. Despite his resistance it had been all too easy, that tall Titan standing there in a daze. If this was who the great Kaiser, the indomitable Kaiser, "The Wall" partnered with these days – a Guardian who locked up, who fumbled at first contact – well, it was a disappointment to say the least. But a kill was a kill.

And if the plasma discharge he'd heard earlier was any indication… Isaac turned to his left and found the lifeless form of Serra. He frowned, a reaction hidden behind the safety of his visor, as he set his gaze on Kaiser. It was upsetting that his former Fireteam leader had managed to get his hands on her but, the Hunter considered, it was not an unsurprising turn of events.

She'd always had her own way of going about things, Serra.

That she hadn't listened to his advice, heeded his warnings about this Titan – well, he supposed it shouldn't have surprised him.

With urgency no longer a factor, the Hunter strolled back to the center of the arena, he knew the Titan well enough to know he wouldn't attack now, sometimes Kaiser's sense of honor could be suffocating.

He was calm as he closed his eyes, when he sensed the Titan was upon him again, he sighed, "You're not gonna try to talk me back into the Blue Ridge again."

It hadn't been a question, just a statement.

"I would if you'd let me," Kaiser replied calmly.

Spinning his hand cannon over his finger, the Hunter quickly replaced it in the holster at his waist, "You're out of luck, Kaiser. Those days are in the past."

The Titan reloaded his own hand cannon, keeping his voice low as he replied, "There was nothing you could have done. You know that, right?"

"And I will have to live knowing that I couldn't save her until my dying day," Isaac replied, gripping the hand cannon he held tightly as he brought it to rest over his chest.

"Every time you speak, it seems your burden grows, brother," the Titan shook his head sadly. Then he squared off his stance to the Hunter, "But if you do not wish to allow someone to help you ease the pain, then for that I am truly sorry."

Kaiser bowed, then, conceding the first move to Isaac.

Growling, the Hunter lunged, "I never asked for your pity!"

And his cape whipped behind him, silenced as the shaggy-haired Human Hunter's hand cannon sang out. He'd tried to peg the Titan at point blank but Kaiser had been quick to spin away. He continued in his movement until he'd slide off of the platform entirely, just in time to evade the last four rounds as Isaac emptied his hand cannon.

With an impatient huff, the Hunter leapt off of the platform, as well – ignoring the telemetry feed by his motion sensors. There was a loud grunt of discomfort as Isaac careened straight into the Titan's fist. The Hunter managed to gain his bearings just fast enough to avoid the blast of a fusion rifle as he dove behind a nearby pillar. Kaiser's volley of high caliber rounds shredded the top of the landscape.

"Don't suppose we can take a quick breather, eh, Kaiser?" the Hunter chuckled.

"Tired already? Age has not been a friend to you, brother." Kaiser's voice echoed.

"If only I could gamble for youth at the card tables." Isaac snorted.

When the Titan made no response, the Hunter jumped skyward, narrowly avoiding a kick that came low and fast.

Shots filled the air as their hand cannons clashed together. Pushing himself off of the Titan, the Hunter lobbed another trip mine grenade, cleanly missing his intended mark of Kaiser's head. The Titan closed the gap once more, abandoning his hand cannon as the jabs came in like a jackhammer. The ferocity of the Titan's barrage prevented Isaac from bringing his weapon back up as he tried desperately to block and evade.

At the apex of the Titan's next punch his hand snaked out, the edge of field knife trialing sparks across Kaiser's armor. The Titan reeled, feeling the blade nick his skin as he swiveled around, bringing his elbow with him in an attempt to put a devastating blow into the lighter guardian.

But the speed the Hunter had mustered was astonishing, the metallic heel of his boot connected with the Titan's helmet before he could get anywhere close. The audible screech of metal against stone filled the arena as Kaiser slid backwards, unwilling to be caught recovering as he brought his hand cannon up to attention. But the light flash of crimson forced him to duck once more as a high velocity round obliterated the small firearm in his hand.

He ducked behind pillar as the next round nearly took his leg off, the contrail of the large caliber bullet skimming just inches from his body. Before getting behind cover he had caught the golden glint of an aging Efrideet's Spear, Isaac's calling card. To see it now, at this range, the Hunter wasn't going to give any ground, he was playing to win. The Titan's destroyed hand cannon was evidence of that.

"C'mon Kasier!" the Hunter beckoned with a small growl, keeping watch on both side of pillar, ready for whenever the other guardian decided to peek out again.

Although it was the muzzle of a machine gun that revealed itself, not waiting for a hail of bullet to begin flying his way, the Hunter placed a bolt right through the middle of the automatic weapon. But no sooner had he did a violet sparkle catch his eye.

The older Hunter twitched as he narrowly avoid the magnetic grenade that was sent his way, only to have his vision filled with the Titan's form once more. A classic bait and switch, one that had just cost him his rifle as the foot of Kaiser came down atop it, bending the sturdy barrel.

Unfortunately for the Hunter, his hands were slow to release the weapon, turning the error in judgement into a costly mistake. Kaiser's fist clocked him in the jaw with enough force to send him backwards, sprawling against the staircase near the platform that they had, earlier, jumped down from. Isaac was slow to stand, a bit woozy from the blow as he struggled to find solid ground.

It seemed to him at least that the Titan had gotten quite a bit faster since their last encounter in the Crucible. But, even all those years ago, Kaiser had been on his side of things… regardless, it was an impressive feat, what Kaiser had managed. It was to be expected of a Guardian of his calibre.

The smaller Guardian skipped backwards, just as the pulse of a fusion rifle streaked across the arena. He took cover one the other side of the large alter as he finally managed to reload his hand cannon. On a keen ear, the Hunter suddenly pushed away just in time to avoid a hail solar fire from above..

"You're faster but still up to the same old tricks!" Isaac scoffed as he twirled, letting the Traveler's light consume him. His body was engulfed in flame as the Titan was barely able to duck the first round, lying prone atop the pedestal.

"Sorry I didn't spend our years apart brushing up on fancy moves, brother," Kaiser called down.

"That's a damn shame," the Hunter growled as he jumped once, twice, three times into the air to appear before the Titan in a flash. The Titan rolled off the Hunter's line of fire as his Golden Gun took a large chunk out of the altar.

Before the Hunter had touched down, Kaiser was back on his feet. With an amazing fit of dexterity, the Titan took hold of the Hunter's arm, a crushing grip, just as Isaac pulled the trigger, forcing the last bolt to skim harmlessly past the Titan's helmet. And somewhere in the midst of the struggle, a field knife found a place in the muscle of the Titan's thigh, forcing him to stumble backwards.

"There it is!" Isaac growled as his roundhouse kick sent the Titan spinning off of the platform. Intent on keeping the other man in his sight this time, Isaac lunged forward only to have his vision soothed with the soft hues of void light as he landed. As he looked around, his eyes settling on the Titan who was glowing from the effects of his Ward, the Hunter smirked, "I see."

"I am sorry, brother," Kaiser spoke, cocking back his arm.

"Well played, mate," the Hunter nodded before he tried to jump out of the bubble. But the Titan pulled him back inside quickly – bullets ricocheted uselessly off of Kaiser's augmented shields until the hand cannon clicked empty.

"Likewise," the Titan replied before unleashing a heavily armored first directly towards the Hunter's face.

* * *

Safely back in the Hangar, Serra let the weight of her helmet pull her head back against the headrest of the pilot's seat of her jump ship. Even after having been revived from her defeat in the Crucible, no amount of strength she could draw from the Traveler's light was going to stave the ache in her skull. Gingerly, she made to remove the helmet from her head and frowned for the pain that intensified at her left temple for the pressure caused by the action. Closing her green eyes, she pulled off her right glove and touched the place where a cut had formed, matting her brilliant brown hair with blood. She was still bleeding and it had been at least an hour ago that she'd suffered the blow. The loss of blood might have helped to explain why she felt so lightheaded.

She quickly put the glove back on and jumped from the cockpit with her helmet under her left arm. The shock from landing on solid ground sent a jarring pain racing straight from the knock to her head, shooting through her tired limbs like thick waves of Arc energy – not the kind she was able to produce by herself; something more like a line rifle or a shock grenade. Serra felt her vision blur, she felt her legs wobble beneath her.

"You alright, sweetie?" a familiar voice echoed from her right. And when she felt the firm hand on her shoulder, supporting her weight and helping to steady the sway, she leaned forward.

Isaac caught her as she fell into him. Serra felt his hand on her temple but she didn't have the energy to flinch or protest his touch. After a long, low whistle the older Hunter chuckled, "Kaiser did a number on ya, kid. If I'd known you'd had such a nasty gash, I'd have stitched you up before we left Mars."

"I'm sorry," she murmured absent-mindedly. "I failed."

Isaac chuckled again, shaking his head as he stared down at his counterpart, "Not to worry, sweetie. I couldn't take him down either."

Serra smirked, finally having found her legs underneath her, once again. She had left her shotgun in the cockpit of her jump ship but she decided that it didn't matter; she would retrieve it later. Taking a deep breath, she looked across the Hangar and studied the other Guardians milling about.

She tried to convince herself that she wasn't searching for anything in particular – yet there they were. The pair of Titans who had defeated Isaac and her had just returned from Mars. Serra turned away from them and pulled the hood of her cape over her head in the same movement. Neither of them would have the pleasure to know the extent of her injuries if she had anything to say about it.

Even Isaac straightened in tension to her right; he'd seen them too. But the Hunters stood side by side, silently, as though waiting to see if the duo would approach.

"Better luck next time brother," she heard the shorter Titan's voice ring out over the low clamor of the Hangar as Nolano dismounted his jump craft. But the taller Titan stayed silent, his eyes still focused on his jumpship.

"There's no shame in getting blindsided. Our opponents were very skilled," Kaiser added as he placed a reassuring hand on Nolano's shoulder.

Serra watched as the taller male only nodded.

"You live and learn, bother," Kaiser spoke again. And Serra watched as he caught sight of Isaac. "And sometimes you just need to apply a little pressure, walk with me."

She turned away, matching her footsteps with Isaac's as she followed him to stand before the pair of Titans.

"That was good match," Kaiser held out his hand and Isaac shook it, though Serra got the impression that the gesture was painful for her friend. She turned her attention, then, to Nolano. He seemed frozen, anxious.

Serra couldn't help but empathize. She was frozen in her place as she kept her gaze lowered and focused all of her attention on the helmet she clutched desperately against her side. She relaxed slightly when Isaac put his hand on her back, between her shoulder blades. She couldn't look at Nolano again – what was she supposed to say to him after whatever it was that had happened between them in the Crucible?

Why hadn't she just ended his round like all of her senses had been begging, screaming for her to do from the very beginning?

"Thank you," the Hunter lowered his chin politely. "For the challenge."

It was a confusing mix of vanity and embarrassment that made the Huntress avert her gaze from the younger Titan. Not only was she sweaty and exhausted, she was probably still bleeding all over herself. If Nolano seemed at all confused by their recent altercation in the Crucible, Serra wouldn't know. When she finally looked up, it was to meet the gaze of the older Titan.

Just looking at him made her head scream for the memory of how much it had fucking hurt when he'd killed her. The sheer strength he'd managed to exert. Where had all that come from? She had underestimated him, despite Isaac's warnings. And she was ashamed of herself. Had she been more careful, she might have been able to muster the strength to avoid his shots, to fire the last round from her hand cannon. His shields had been depleted, just like hers. But he'd been so much stronger than her…

And, as though spurred to action by her thinking on the match alone, the Huntress could feel the hot sensation of blood sliding down her cheek. Undoubtedly it was from the gash she'd sustained above her left-temple – but she was too proud to draw attention to the injury and chose not to wipe it away. Maybe they wouldn't notice – maybe he wouldn't see…

And she cringed for the shame she felt in her vanity. Why should she care what Nolano thought? It wasn't like she cared what she looked like, how she acted in front of him… but even as she'd thought those things, she knew that they were maybe not entirely true; not anymore.

And Serra hated herself, hated him for the weakness he'd managed to rouse within her consciousness. Who was this Titan? Nobody – he was nothing to her. So she decided to settle her gaze on him, narrowing her eyes as she glared a passionate hatred at the taller Titan. But in her weakened frame of mind, her gaze was more quiet longing than passionate hatred. Oh, if only she knew…

'I should have ended you,' she mentally berated herself. But she wouldn't even think about why she hadn't. Serra had a sneaking suspicion. She liked this Titan; though she still felt like she had no purpose for such feelings.

'Give it a few days,' she decided. 'He'll be out of your hair soon enough and what's out of sight can be out of mind.'

"C'mon, sweetie," Isaac saved her from her thoughts. "To the infirmary for you. Let's get ya cleaned up."

Even as she felt Isaac leading her out of the Hangar, she was unable to break her gaze on the tall Titan, Nolano. She kept glaring the entire time.

"I'll admit," Kaiser waited until the pair of Hunters was out of earshot. "You do have an interesting choice in ladies, brother."

"Huh? Wh-what are you talking about?" Nolano mumbled, fully aware that his lie had been as transparent as his crush on the Huntress he'd just watched his mentor lay out in the Crucible.

"Nothin', nothing at all. I'll meet you next when the Traveler deems it so. Until then, brother," the older Titan chucked as he left Nolano to wrestle with his thoughts. Memories tormented and contented by the image of graceful little Serra.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer :: Who even started this disclaimer thing, it's seems wildly unnecessary, plus how many of us could really afford a legal battle with Bungie?  
_

* * *

Serra straightened her cloak, taking a deep breath as she stopped abruptly on her heel and turned sharply back towards the same direction she'd just traveled from. She had been pacing a trail over the pathway between Eris and Tess for over a quarter of an hour, only occasionally pausing to gauge the position of the sun overhead or to wring her hands together in anxious anticipation. When she sighed and jogged up the flight of stairs that would lead past Eris and towards the Speaker, her Ghost, Eddison, reminded impatiently, "There's no punishment for arriving early, Guardian."

She blinked.

Under his breath, the Ghost chastised sarcastically, "It mightn't hurt if you did arrive early. I can't imagine that you've quite fallen into Cayde's good graces yet."

The Huntress stopped at the top of the stairs, selecting the railing farthest from Eris to lean upon. She had enough on her mind without having to worry about hurting the feelings of the erratic ex-Guardian when she would inevitably have to leave before she was finished with whatever story she'd wanted to impart to the Huntress about Crota or the years she'd suffered under the surface of Earth's Moon. And, if she were to be perfectly honest, the Huntress was conscious that any behavior on her part that could be, in any way, construed as bad was likely to be communicated to Cayde. It was the last thing she wanted to be deeper into his bad graces.

Because he'd called on her after only four days.

Either he'd had a change of heart about her two week decommissioning or the Vanguard had a special sort of assignment for her. In the back of her mind she thought, briefly, of Talzen the Warlock – it had been only three days ago that she'd had it out with him in the Crucible. She immediately dismissed any fear that this meeting was in regard to her actions against him. The Crucible had long been a ground for Guardians to settle their disagreements fairly, amongst themselves. She wasn't the first Guardian to go a little crazy on an opponent – and she knew she certainly would not be the last.

Serra thought, next, of Kaiser and the thorough beating he'd exacted upon her as a way to illustrate that point; she absent mindedly ran her gloved fingertips over the line of stitches that had been necessary just above her left eye before moving her hand upwards to touch the near-identical set she'd received at her hairline a few inches above. She had argued, of course, with the nurse that stitches weren't necessary – but the plump young human girl from the City had insisted, pricking at Serra's vanity that, without them, she might scar.

The Huntress had acquiesced.

Kaiser… how had she not been quicker to take caution of him in the Crucible? The Titan was a legend – a Guardian above all others, one of the Elites… she'd been reeducated of all the more familiar details of his existence, how he'd gathered his strength, and the legends of his heroics in the service of the Traveler from Isaac. In fact, it had been only moments before that she'd left the lunch they were sharing to answer Cayde's call.

"You're anxious, Guardian," her Ghost observed. "Go – Cayde will forgive you for arriving early."

Serra closed her eyes to the breeze, feeling the words of her Ghost wash over her as the cool chill of the late-afternoon air pulled her bangs away from her face. She turned her chin up, feeling the warmth of the sun against her high cheekbones, as though to counter the effects of the breeze. Her voice was calm when she replied to her Ghost, "Have you not considered I might be avoiding Cayde?"

Her Ghost hovered over her shoulder, beeping once and flickering a dim blue light over her arm bracer, "It can't be worse than two weeks on the bench."

She laughed, pushing her body away from the railing with her forearms. The Huntress ran a hand through her light brown hair before starting back down the stairs and walking past the booth of Special Orders for the first time since her mindless wandering had directed her feet along their path. As she descended the staircase to when she knew the Vanguards were waiting, she whispered, "Time, please, Ghost."

"You're still early."

Then, as though he'd had nothing more pressing to occupy his time than waiting for her, she heard Cayde's voice call out to her from the next room, "That you, Serra?"

"Yes, Vanguard."

"C'mon in," he responded quickly. But he'd already turned his attention to the charts before him when the Huntress came to a halt at the head of the table the Vanguards surrounded. She had her hands behind her back, nervously twirling her fingers together, but her posture was otherwise confident.

There was a long pause and Serra noticed Ikora's amused smirk out of the corner of her eye, the way that she had her arms crossed over her chest. Serra felt her stomach drop – that couldn't be good.

"Found ya a Fireteam, Serra," Cayde straightened his posture, blue eyes flaring once like he was amused by having been able to make the statement. He studied her carefully, the Huntress knew to see if she would try to protest his words, his orders. And she wanted to.

Traveler's Light she wanted to.

Serra worked alone. She traveled alone.

Yet, despite her displeasure, she held her tongue. Cayde had turned his glance across the table towards Ikora but quickly turned back to Serra, asking, "No comment?"

"To what end, Vanguard? You'll insist I need a Fireteam no matter how I protest."

Cayde looked to Ikora again and Serra followed his gaze, catching a glint in her eyes that said she was certain, sure. That she'd known Serra would react this way – What was this, anyway? What did the Warlock Vanguard have to do with anything? And what the hell did she find so amusing about the situation?

"Guess I wouldn't be excited about two weeks in the Crucible, either," Cayed nodded, looking at his Huntress again. He crossed the distance to stand before her, gazing down because he was taller than she. And then he added, "Especially if I'd been the one to run across Kaiser my first day in."

Serra glanced at the floor, ashamed that Cayde knew how badly she'd been beaten.

Ikora's voice teased lightly, "I think the old ones used to call that 'Karma', Hunter. Karma struck for how carefully you bested my Warlock."

A flush rose to the Huntress' cheeks.

"Not that Talzen didn't earn his fate fairly," she added; and Serra caught a faint smirk over her elegant features out of the corner of her eye.

"I would have stood by my word, Serra," Cayde spoke sharply. "After that display. But you have Zavala to thank that you're here today."

Serra's gaze darted to the end of the table where the Awoken Titan stared straight back at her, biting back a smile. He crossed his arms over his chest, "You're welcome would suffice."

Serra smiled, lowering her chin in polite acknowledgement.

"If you'll agree to the mission you're assigned with the Fireteam the Commander has put together for you," Cayde paused as Serra nodded quickly, eagerly to express her gratitude. "Then you're hereby recommissioned, Guardian."

"Thank you, sir," she breathed a sigh of relief.

"That means you follow your Leader's orders, Serra."

"Of course, sir."

"No going off on your own."

She nodded.

"No acting on impulse."

She ventured a glance at Ikora before nodding again.

"And you're certainly not to cause these Guardians any grief, Serra!"

Her pale green eyes locked with the bright blue of the Commander as she replied, "When do I report?"

"Now would be good," Cayde turned away from her, then, to resume his place on the far side of the table from Ikora. "Your Fireteam prepares in the Hangar; bay 23-1570. You are dismissed."

"Yes, Vanguard," she bowed, shuffling backwards before she'd fully righted herself. As she crossed the threshold, she stopped to turn over her shoulder, smiling, "Thank you, Cayde."

The former Guardian didn't look up – he hadn't needed to look at Ikora to know there was a satisfied smirk on her face. He could practically feel how smug she'd become; the air was thick with the emotion. So he kept his gaze focused on his charts and snapped, "Let's hear it, Warlock."

"No comment," the other Vanguard turned a page in one of the books she was referencing.

"Nothing at all?"

"No, not for the moment."

Zavala, from his end of the table, just shook his head for their shared flirtation. The least they could do is try not to carry on with one another in such a manner while he was still in the room…


	6. Chapter 6

_Sorry for the wait._

* * *

Once at the top of the staircase, Serra sighed in her relief; she was unable to hide the brilliant smile that highlighted her graceful features. She could follow orders for one mission – besides, when this Fireteam would eventually reject her, she'd be back to patrolling on her own in no time. She closed her eyes, dreaming of the freedom to roam, to hunt for all the secret places that she'd come to love through her travels.

"Your mood sure has improved, sweetie," Isaac commented from a few meters away. He'd just picked up some special orders from Tess and he smirked, perhaps for having been able to catch the young Huntress by surprise.

"Do you follow me on purpose or am I just cursed with such bad luck?"

"Maybe a little of both," Isaac smirked, resting a hand on Serra's back, between her shoulder blades. "What did the Vanguard say?"

"I've been reassigned."

"Just like that, huh?"

"Well, there's a Fireteam," she smiled, offering him a sideways glance.

After a long, low whistle, Isaac commented, "And all three Vanguards are still alive? Color me surprised, sweetie. I've come to expect bad things as a result of your fowl temper."

"Haha," she growled, elbowing him in the ribs.

"Oh, c'mon, Serra!" he chuckled, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her slight frame against his side. He brushed his fingertips gently over the stitches she was still sporting from having a run-in with Kaiser in the Crucible. "If you'd have listened to me instead of letting your pride get in the way, you'd still be the best looking lady in the Tower."

"I was defending myself," she retorted, ignoring his teasing remarks.

"Did you decide it was self-defense before or after you let him pin you into a corner?"

Serra stopped in the center of the Plaza, glaring at Isaac, "Speak for yourself, old man. What'd it take him to finish you? Two, three shots? At least I put up a fight."

Isaac just laughed, nodding thoughtfully as he turned to face the fiery little Huntress before him. His voice was light, teasing, "Old man? Serra, you wound me."

"You'll get over it," she smiled, walking past him and towards the Hangar.

"Sometimes I think Cayde is too soft on you Huntresses," Isaac remarked, jogging to fall back into stride with Serra. "No respect for your elders and, to make matters worse, you lot run wherever you please and do whatever you will. Can't control a damn one of ya."

"Would you really want to?"

"Touche, sweetie. Touche!"

She'd stopped at the bottom of the staircase that would lead her into the Hangar and the older Hunter turned to look down at her. Both of their capes, hers black with glimmers of white and his edged in bloodstained sable, flickered gently in the afternoon breeze. Two Warlocks walked past, their arms heavy with books; Serra waited for them to pass before she smiled up Isaac.

"Good luck with the new Fireteam," he offered simply. "Break em in and bring em back quick, would ya? I'm short my best partner in the Crucible until you get back."

"Take it easy, old man," she playfully shoved his shoulder. "And don't let those young kids get the better of you before I get back."

Then she turned to rush along her way. It had never occurred to her that she ought to wonder who the other members of her Fireteam might be. She'd never thought to imagine that it might be someone with whom she wasn't sure that she could work… but when she rounded the corner, ascended the familiar staircase that would lead to the Guardian staging area and her jump ship, she caught her first glimpse of the tall Titan.

She knew that it was him in an instant; somehow in the course of seventy two hours, her subconscious had set to turn every Titan into Nolano. But her stomach hadn't dropped like it might have if she had been nervous or disappointed. Instead, her heartrate quickened and she felt a wave of – something else… something else entirely washed over her.

Serra checked the bay again.

23-1517

His back was turned to her and it appeared he was looking over a shotgun, though he'd disassembled the weapon already and what, with his broad shoulders, it was difficult to see exactly what the gun had been before. She leaned against the doorway of the Hangar with her arms crossed over her chest; her left foot was crossed over her right and she quickly ran a hand through her hair, conscious of the need to be gentle for the stitches that had still not healed enough to be touched without causing discomfort. Her pale green eyes were set on him as she admired crimson armor and tried to wade through the mix of emotions racing through her consciousness.

"Fancy finding you here, Titan."

The crash the gun he'd been holding made when it hit the work bench was tremendous; metal against metal. The echo clamored about the small bay, bouncing around the walls until he'd turned around to greet her, "I, uh… wha-what are you doing here?"

It was him.

Him.

"I'm meeting a Fireteam."

She smirked, attempting to work out the details in her mind. Her new Fireteam was going to be comprised of Nolano, at least. How did that knowledge make her feel? She wasn't nervous; she wasn't dreading whatever experience Zavala had just signed her up for. But she wasn't ready to consider that she might actually have been looking forward to the assignment, either. If Zavala had put together the Fireteam, it would likely be one of his own to lead it. The Commander, in particular, had a penchant for expressing loyalty to his order in a rather blatant fashion. Barring that the other Fireteam member wasn't a Titan, as well, then it was a safe bet that she was looking at her new Fireteam leader.

The Huntress cocked her head to the side for what silence had fallen over the pair as she watched Nolano piece together the meaning of such a chance turn of events. She raised a dark brown eyebrow at the Titan, still across the room from her, still looking at her through handsome dark eyes.

He looked away quickly, turning his attention back to the gun he'd been busy reassembling.

She didn't let her guard down, however, as she crossed the distance slowly, keeping her hands in plain sight the entire time. She didn't want to scare the man, after all – though, she decided, she had just exercised her innate talent for always catching other Guardians off guard, when they were least expecting her. Sure, the only behavior he'd ever witnessed from her was a bit brash, a bit sharp. But she'd been under the effects of adrenaline and whiskey, respectively, both times she'd seen him previously – the third time, the Crucible… Serra wasn't sure, yet, what she wanted to consider that.

Perhaps it was time that this Titan realize there were other sides of her – the way she behaved when she was on patrol. And the Traveler knew that he could benefit from learning how to blend in with his scenery a bit more. What, with his height alone, it was a wonder that their enemy didn't flock to him in waves. Or maybe they did – she supposed she shouldn't have been so quick to assume those Fallen enemies had been intensely interested in the Warsat. They'd come in greater numbers when there had been four Guardians defending it…

When she was standing beside him, she hopped up on the work surface and crossed her right leg over her left; she remained silent, her green eyes watching his hands as he finished putting the shotgun back together.

"Where's our third?"

Keeping his eyes from meeting hers, he replied, "I-I don't know. Za-Zavala didn't tell me who was on the team. Only that it would be with two others."

She nodded, just watching him. The way he leaned away from where she sat like she was a poison… Serra frowned. It wasn't like she planned to bite him or anything – not unless he wanted her to… but even then, only if he turned out to be a nice sort of Titan. She smirked when his shoulders twitched.

"Where have we been assigned?" she leaned backwards, using her hands as support.

"It's only a scouting mission into the Black Garden," he looked at her, then. "At least it doesn't seem too bad."

She had been about to reach out and touch his face, before he'd looked at her. To bring his gaze to hers so she could get a better look at him. He was so much taller than she that she'd never managed a good look at his face. But she forgot all else when he mentioned the Black Garden.

"Come again?"

Her voice was low, serious – and she could feel that her shoulders had gone tense. She had leaned forward from where she'd been relaxing on the corner of Nolano's workbench; her back had gone rigid. What the fuck was Cayde thinking? The Black Garden! Perhaps the only place in this universe that she'd found so off putting that she had spent the better part of her years protecting the Last City avoiding it like the very plague of a place it was.

"The Black Garden."

But Serra recovered quickly, relaxing as she tried to hide her discomfort. If she'd done a passable job, she would never know. At that same moment, another Huntress had strolled into the Hangar, crying out excitedly, "Nolano!" Hearing his name had caused the Titan to turn around and the other girl was rushing him, jumping to throw her arms around his neck.

The brown-haired Huntress raised an eyebrow before sliding carefully, quietly off of the workbench to head in the direction of her jump ship. She'd left in a hurry, turning quickly on her heel so that her black and white cape fluttered quietly behind her.

When she got back to Tower, she was going to kill Cayde. Fucking take him apart and put him back together again in all the wrong ways… she glanced back down at the pair of Guardians before she climbed into the cockpit of her ship to manually take assessment of her equipment.

The little Huntress, clad in armor of white and violet, was now on the Titan's back, her legs locked around his torso. Her excited voice echoed through the Hangar, "Hey buddy!"

Hand cannon? Check.

"H-hi, Lana. Don't tell me you're here for this mission, as well."

Green eyes shot up when she heard the Titan's voice. He had turned back toward the workbench, making no attempt to remove the other woman from himself.

Though she could not see the other woman's face, it was unmistakably the same woman she'd seen with him at the bar. Serra could practically hear her grinning, "Of course I am, silly! Somebody's gotta watch your back, Tiny."

Sniper rifle? Check.

"So um, this is going to sound weird but can I ride with you?" the Huntress heard her smaller counterpart ask, failing miserably at her attempt to sound innocent.

"Why?"

Serra reached for her helmet, still in her jump ship from when she'd left it there after her return from the Crucible. She felt her jaw clench as she used her cape to wipe some of her own blood off of the inside of the visor. Her machine gun and some reserve ammo were there, as well.

"Hmmm, now I'm not gonna say it was totally my fault," Serra's eyes snapped back to the other girl as she listened intently. "But something may or may not have hit my jump ship."

"Of c-course, not your fault at all," and the Huntress thought she could detect a hint of sarcasm from the Titan.

"Ghost," Serra summoned with a sharp voice.

"Guardian?"

But she didn't know what she'd wanted to say, why she'd summoned him.

"So, can I?" she heard Lana's voice ring through the Hangar.

"You're going to be okay, Guardian," Eddison soothed. "It's about time you got over your fear of the Black Garden. Isaac can't go with you every time you're assigned there."

"Not much of a choice, is there?" Nolano answered Lana.

As Serra watched the other Huntress ruffle Nolano's dark hair and heard her chirp a happy 'Nope!', she closed her eyes, practically growling.

"Something else on your mind, Guardian?"

"Nope!" she mocked Lana's voice, an uncharacteristically high-pitched tone from the taller, brown-haired Huntress. But before her Ghost could make comment, she quickly added, "Take me to orbit."


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Do people even write these anymore?

* * *

Nolano was no stranger to being called out on side missions with an impromptu Fireteam; such orders were quite common really. Inspect this, secure that, shoot this thing in the middle of its face. What Nolano wasn't used to was being declared the leader of said Fireteam; never in the handful of years he'd been alive had he ever been requested for such a task. So he was more than a little nervous when Commander Zavala briefed him on exactly what he was doing.

Of course his nervousness manifested as unnecessary movement, stuttering, and just the dumb stuff he hated about himself, in general. But make no mistake, hidden under all that fidgeting and slight paranoia, the young Titan had been honored. He'd never been entrusted such an important responsibility, so it would certainly not be favorable to squander it. He would have to keep his wits about him; it wasn't the mission itself but the location. The Black Garden; a three day trek into the dead heart of the Darkness in order to run routine maintenance and collect data from the equipment that had been planted there. It would have been a simple enough task were it not for the fact that all of this was due to a new Vex movement pattern that had been only recently detected.

So the Titan would be leading his team in under less than optimal conditions.

And that hadn't even been the worst part.

Nolano had noticed that Zavala had left him in the dark about who his team members were. That fact alone had made him very apprehensive – what if his Fireteam members were two women that he'd never met before? He would be reduced to a fumbling, jittery mess for the duration of the mission; not attributes a good leader should possess. It could very well throw away one of the best opportunities he'd ever been given.

When Serra had waltzed in, all poise and sensuality, his biggest fear had been realized.

 _Of course_ she'd been the first to show up in his queuing area. Nolano doubted she'd ever been lost a day in her life; this one seemed like she knew exactly what she wanted, when she wanted it, and how much pain the person who found himself under her boot would be made to suffer before she got it.

The Titan had only been able to watch, lost within the blinding radiance of her beauty as his best friend had clambered about his shoulders; the painful… no excruciatingly sensual sway of her hips as she'd turned away from him to rush off to her own jump ship. And behind all of this was a sort of clarity.

"Shouldn't she have waited for your orders, oh Fearless Leader?" Lana asked suspiciously as she watched the other woman's ship race out of the Hangar and disappear into the crystal blue sky. Nolano approached his own ship with the tiny little Huntress still clinging to his strong form like her very survival might have depended upon it.

He felt Lana loosen her grip around his neck, sliding into his lap as he took a seat in the cockpit. He almost wished it was Serra who'd wrecked her ship. But the Titan closed his eyes as he shook his head, lying, "I told her to wait in orbit before you got here."

"Sure ya did, Tiny," Lana shook her head, amber-gold eyes rolling slightly as she bit back a knowing smile. She patted his shoulder sympathetically before her graceful hands were at work coaxing the engines of the Titan's jump ship to life.

He sighed, leaning back against the leather seat, remembering the way Serra had seemed to purr instead of speak, the way she had crossed her legs when she came to sit next to him as if that shapely, toned little form of hers wasn't attractive at all. Of course she didn't know how she plagued his mind with this confusing combination of terror and lust, but that didn't mean his situation was any less frustrating.

The Titan shook his head a bit.

There she was again. Forcing her way into his mind like she was some kind of neurological drug, like she'd willed her way inside his subconscious by sheer intent alone. She had constantly found entry into his thoughts over the past several days, some of which had become more… sensual in nature while he slept. And all this despite the solemn warning that Kaiser had so recently given him. Of course Nolano had the utmost respect for the older Titan but he was rather caught off guard when he told Kaiser of his feelings towards the Huntress.

Kaiser had offered simply, "I've known a Guardian or two like her in my day, brother. She'll find some way to lose her Light before you're ready to let her go. And if you're lucky enough she doesn't take yours with her, you'll spend the rest of your days regretting all it was you couldn't do to save her."

Nolano could certainly understand where the Elite Guardian was going with his message. Serra did seem a bit brash, even for a Huntress. But still the warning hadn't seemed to put a damper on this irrational attraction he felt towards her. It was a cruel confliction of emotions that had put the Titan on more of an edge than usual.

He may have been an anxious, mumbling mess of a person, but he was certainly no fool. Between what happened in the Crucible, Kaiser's warning of her wiles, and how Zavala had briefed him that morning, it had become painfully obvious to the Titan that this was all just a set up.

The Vanguard must have known that his first instinct would have been to run, but this was a mission in which he was a leader so that wasn't an option. Instead, he was meant to endure. Empirically his performance in the field declined when he was matched with females; this must have been some sort of abrasive over exposure tactic to at least nullify some of his anxiety. Subtlety combined with a good mix of brute force, a typical Zavala plan if Nolano ever saw one.

"Hey," Lana offered her friend an encouraging smile. "Don't let her bad attitude get you down. You've still got me! And we can do whatever the Vanguard needs, whether she decides to follow your orders or not."

Nolano nodded; a small collection of fear and triumph surged through him as he forced himself to smile down at the violet-haired Huntress still seated in his lap. He was thankful that the Commander had at least given him her; perhaps his way of saying that he wanted Nolano to change but not go insane doing it.

"Thanks, Lana."

She dropped her head against his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his bicep. Her voice was innocent, high-pitched, "But, umm, hypothetically speaking… what if I told you I left my helmet in the Hangar?"

"Lana, you didn't," Nolano frowned, disappointment dripping from his tone.

She laughed nervously and Nolano turned his ship around, shaking his head.

* * *

Lana still clung to the Titan as they made land fall on the surface of Mars. She'd wrapped her arms around his bicep and the pair had rematerialized with her standing on the ground beside him on her tip toes. Serra had waited for them in orbit around the red planet; she was the third of their Fireteam to rematerialize – and her Ghost had put her a few yards away from Nolano and Lana.

But before Nolano could even utter a word to either of the women of his Fireteam now that they were all together, the Huntress clad in green and black simply walked away.

"Where's the pretty lady going?" Lana pouted as Nolano materialized his Sparrow.

Now that was certainly a good question. Where did she think she was stomping off to? Not that he didn't think the way her hips swayed as she practically stabbed her feet into the Martian clay wasn't cute. Because it was… now if only the wind hadn't been coming from behind her, that black and white cape she wore wouldn't have covered her ass…

He saw Lana was just staring at him staring at Serra and stopped short, offering, "I-I don't know."

"Soooo, I'm not gonna say it was totally my fault," she said in the most comically innocent voice she could manage.

The Titan only sighed and shook his head before summoning his Sparrow and waving his hand that the Huntress could join him. He wondered aloud, "I suppose Talzen and Bo only keep you alive because you're cute."

"You know it!" she chirped happily, practically skipping over to the Sparrow and jumping onto the front. She nudged Nolano's hands from the controls and turned over her shoulder to chuckle, "Just like old times, right?"

"I m-most certainly hope not. Last time you crashed," Nolano replied as he placed his much larger hands over hers on the handle bars. Then, with as much finality as his stutter would allow, he managed, "You can stay in the front, but, uh, this time I pilot."

"Whatever," she muttered, giving the light craft some throttle to propel it forward. Then the little Huntress shouted, "Onward trusty steed!"

The Sparrow's engine hummed lightly as it cut across red sand and clay, easily catching the other Huntress who had just made it to the bottom of the hill they'd been transmatted on top of. Lana cut the craft sharply so that it slid to a stop in front of the other woman.

"Wh-what – where are you going? We-we're supposed to stick together," the Titan mumbled, already freezing up before the fiery Huntress.

Without the benefit of being able to read her emotions openly, the Titan figured she was probably glaring at him, Lana, both of them, hell, he didn't know. It was impossible to say what her face looked like from behind the dark visor of her helmet. But he watched her cross her arms over her chest, pointing the hand cannon she'd carried with her towards the ground. And when she spoke, he thought he could sense irritation on her tone, "You tell me, Titan. I thought I'd wait for your order in the safety of this ravine rather than stand atop a hill as fodder for Cabal or worse."

Nolano lowered his chin for the harsh, biting truth in Serra's words. A high ridge might have made them easy prey, sure, but still illustrated his point; it was all the more reason that they needed to stick together. He wouldn't argue with her; bickering amongst their group was certainly not going to get them far. So he remained silent as he watched her summon her own Sparrow and gracefully hop over the seat.

He felt his jaw drop when she arched her back, sliding her hips forward against the leather seat. Her helmet dropped backwards as her gaze lifted towards the skin and her arms stretched over her head, blocking a bit of light so that her silhouette was practically bathed in Martian sun.

Lana giggled, turning around to tap the side of Nolano's helmet with her index finger, "Earth to Tiny. You still in there?"

"Th-the Vex gate the Tower uses to access the Garden is, uh, about ten klicks north of here," he replied quickly, double checking the information on his hud.

"Alrighty! Let's go!" Lana beamed as she floored the Titan's Sparrow, speeding away and forcing the lone Huntress to give pursuit.

The light crafts were making quick work of the distance, rewarding the Guardians with a myriad of scenery from mankind's past. Seeing the decaying buildings always made the Titan to wonder what the surface of Mars must have been like in the Golden Age. What did the people of this once bustling planet do to pass the time? Although Nolano didn't like to dwell on things like that for long since they always seemed to make his thoughts take a turn for the worst.

Plus, he had a sneaking suspicion that Serra was cross with him for some reason. She'd been keeping her distance and had even turned off her communicator for the duration of the ten klick ride; not that he'd been the one who had tried to get into contact with her. That had been Lana. But to be fair she always seemed upset at something. He snuck a backwards glance over his shoulder at her.

"Don't stare, Tiny, its rude!" Lana elbowed him in the ribs but, with his strong armor, it only awarded her with a sore elbow. "Owie!"

Nolano only laughed, "What was it Talzen was on about a few days ago – something called Karma?"

"Meanie!" Lana muttered, taking the controls back.

It wasn't long before the skimming of dunes and dodging of Cabal patrols came to a close. The enormous Vex time-gate was coming into view; quite a convenient occurrence considering the signs of a fierce sandstorm just beginning to brew. Nolano eased the Sparrow to a slow stop, leaning backwards so that Lana could hop off of the craft first.

He saw Serra a good ten meters away from where he and Lana had come to a stop; she had one hand on her hip and the other on her hand cannon. It appeared that she was looking towards the time-gate that would, once activated, grant them entrance to the Black Garden. Her Ghost was hovering about her immediate vicinity and the Titan turned his attention away, determining that she should have some privacy in the situation until she turned her communicator back on.

Nolano climbed off of the Sparrow. He faintly heard Serra remark, "Thank you, Ghost," before he watched her walk confidently to stand next to Lana. It was the closest he'd been to her since she'd hoped up on his workbench to watch him work on his shotgun. If he'd wanted to, he could have reached out and touched her. As close as she was, Nolano could see now that she was quite a bit taller than Lana, though the Awoken Huntress was rather short, even for a female Guardian.

Their capes, a blur of black and lavender, fluttered in a breeze that was picking up strength with each passing moment. The Titan watched tensely as Lana turn to face Serra, her white-gloved hand reaching out towards the other Guardian like she wanted to touch Serra's gleaming black armor.

Serra caught her wrist, wrapping black fingertips around the limb tightly, as her voice cut across the distance separating them, "What's your order, Titan?"

Despite the confidence in her voice, Nolano's sensors – which he had, of course, set to track Serra's vitals as well as his own – had picked up on her elevated heartrate, her heightened breathing. Was she – no. She couldn't be nervous. The Titan dismissed his doubt, though, feeling the mark at his waist fluttering violently in the wind. He was quick to summon his Ghost, Guyver, after the fiery Huntress' words were lost to the breeze.

"Hmm, the Black Garden," Guyver spoke before disappearing into a cloud of blue dust. "I will ping the Vex network to see if we can get the plate oscillating again."

Nolano placed his hand on the small of Lana's back, leading her towards the sync plate. He was pleased to see that she hadn't forgotten her weapons, at least, as she whipped out an auto rifle.

"Do you think it'll go any faster if I ask Diablo to help?" she asked as she took up position on the sync plate.

"Unlikely," Guyver replied. "But I appreciate the offer, Guardian."

The Titan glanced back and saw that Serra was slow to move into position. He offered her a still shaky hand to help pull her atop the stone platform but she ignored him, jumping up under her own power. There seemed to be a rather thick tension settled between the trio; one that was quite noticeable when Lana stopped speaking. The only sound around them was the hiss of sand blowing by, only interrupted by the loud creak of metal snapping…

"Oh shit," Lana barely breathed as she pointed west.

The other two Guardians followed her extended arm, snapping up to find what they had assumed was a passing sand storm to, in fact, be the Martian equivalent of a tornado barreling towards them. And it wasn't long before they could feel it, as well. The ground shook beneath them as the sand pelting against their armor went from a pesky annoyance to a howling wall of tiny projectiles. The metallic sound they had heard must have been something of the remains of the Golden Age building that was now corkscrewing towards them, flinging shards of steel the size of cars. The surrounding Vex architecture seemed relatively unimpressed with the display of natural power until one of the building fragments sliced a spire in half.

He'd never seen anything like it – a powerful wave of dust spinning violently towards them. Both Lana and Serra reached for the field knives at their sides but Nolano frowned. What would those do to defend their Fireteam against such a powerful force of nature?

"The oscillation will begin momentarily but I suggest you brace yourselves," Guyver announced nonchalantly as he reappeared from nowhere before the Titan. Nolano bit back the urge to scold his Ghost for what could only be taken as a cheap quip but instead grabbed Serra briskly by her forearm, bringing her closer to where he and Lana were standing before summing a Ward of Dawn.

He held his breath, watching. Waiting.

The outer wall of the cyclone hit like a train, sending sand and shrapnel at the bubble of Void Light at a lethal pace. The shield held, but only for a few moments before something dense sliced across the top of the bubble, tearing it as if it were nothing more than wet paper. As the raging storm now hit unimpeded, he heard Serra cry out, falling to her knees and bracing herself with her hands. The last thing he could remember doing before his vision was engulfed in light was reaching for her, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her small frame against his own.

The portal dropped their trio in a heap within the Black Garden, spilling sand and a smoldered piece of metal there along with them.

"I-I, uh-" Nolano stuttered when he saw how tightly Serra had her arms wrapped around him. She was holding on to him like she'd planned to die, like she thought she would be safer if she were cemented to him. Her helmet rested against his chest plate and the Titan had to blink a few times before he could remember to breathe. He watched his own hand hover over her back. What, like he was going to be able to comfort her? Any more of this and he was sure he would simply drop dead from a heart attack.

But she relaxed suddenly, letting out a deep breath as her hands fell away from his arm and she straightened herself. Nolano wasn't sure anymore if it was her heart racing or his.

"Is anyone dead?" Lana laughed darkly as she unburied herself from a pile of red sand. She scraped her auto rifle off the ground and removed the clip of ammunition to watch a bit of sand pour from inside.

"We're all dead now, Huntress; as good as were it so," Serra snapped. "Or hadn't you realized that we've lost all contact with the Tower?"

The Titan considered the portal. Surely that sandstorm had just destroyed everything about the access point they had just used to enter the eerie place that was the Black Garden. He was starting to come down from his unnecessary panic. Nolano stood to take in the damage. It had been a close call but, thankfully, his Ward had bought them the few precious seconds that they'd needed.

Somehow they had made it. All of them.

"Sheesh, the Chief Cynic, over there," Lana scoffed. Then she turned her attention to Nolano, "Are you okay, Tiny?"

Serra's opinion of their situation, well, Nolano couldn't disagree entirely. It did seem true that the mission had just taken a turn for the worse. The Titan held out his hand to summon Guyver once more, his heart still pounding from the near death experience and the warm body that had been so close, "Status p-please?"

"Well this is rather bleak, isn't it?" Guyver mused as he floated toward a piece of shrapnel that had been part of the sync plate, scanning it as best he could.

While his Ghost went about his analysis of their situation, Nolano glanced down at Serra, who was still sitting on the dark stone floor. Her hands were shaking when she pulled out her hand cannon, turning it over a few times as though checking for damage before she slung it in a circle and replaced it in the holster at her waist. She seemed not to have noticed that she'd taken damage to her left arm, likely a result of some of the metal they had brought through the portal with them, and that she was bleeding.

"Generally the Vex would be able to rebuild such damage in a few days," Guyver finally added.

Lana shifted uncomfortably, "But?"

"But without Aetheon, the network has taken a noticeable decrease in efficiency," the Ghost explained.

"So, how long then?" Lana huffed.

"I cannot say," Guyver answered. "Perhaps a week."

"That's not good," Lana replied, sounding distressed.

"Indeed not," Guyver pressed on. "The Tower used that very plate as a conduit to communicate with any Guardians in the Garden at the time."

That was even worse news to hear. This scouting mission had just turned into something more of a standard patrol deployment; the difference being no one was ever stupid enough to patrol the Black Garden. Just being in the shrine to the Darkness for prolonged periods of time was said to make one go insane. Clenching his jaw, Nolano sighed.

Serra, who must have been listening to the grim prognosis, had her arms wrapped around herself. And the Titan watched her shoulders tremble.

But the Titan only heard bits of pieces of the rest of conversation between his Ghost and his best friend; Nolano knelt down beside Serra and touched her shoulder. When she started, clearly taken aback by his presence, he flinched and immediately pulled his hand away – that hadn't been the type of reaction he'd hoped to elicit. But he pressed on, tearing off an edge of his mark and offering it to her slowly. His voice was soft, "S-Serra? Are you okay?"

But she didn't say anything. She brought both of her hands to either side of her helmet and, with fists over the front, shook her head back and forth frantically, as though she were covering her eyes. As though blocking her vision would reveal this entire situation to be only a nightmare.

Nolano reached out to her again, putting a hand on her shoulder and offering her the scrap of the crimson and white fabric to bandage her wound. The way she had jumped away from him both shocked and worried the Titan. He wasn't used to seeing the Huntress so – frightened? Was that the right word? Serra wasn't one to show fear, was she?

He narrowed his eyes, watching her. She just seemed so fragile for a moment, like her entire world had come to a screeching halt. It was true that their situation was now less than ideal, but they could manage. They were Guardians, after all. But, then again, perhaps the shakiness the Titan was used to seeing in himself was now stemming from another source.

She hesitated, shrugging his hand off of her shoulder and looking up at him cautiously, but she took the mark with a soft, 'Thank you.' And then she struggled to try to bandage the gash by holding the fabric between her side and her arm.

Pushing Nolano out of the way, Lana knelt down beside Serra and murmured, "Here, let me help you."

The Huntress wearing green and black gasped at the same moment that Nolano watched Lana tug a tight knot over the top of the gash, putting enough pressure on the wound to, hopefully, stop most of the bleeding.

"What's wrong, Huntress? You're acting pretty unlike yourself."

"Lana," Nolano warned.

"Do you think she's in shock, Tiny?"

"I-I don't know."

"I'm not in shock," Serra snapped, standing quickly and turning her back to Nolano and Lana.

He shook his head, staring at both of the women he'd been tasked to lead but had, instead, exiled to the unknown. Lana, always upbeat and kind. Then Serra who had continued to put up her bravado despite how nervous she seemed to be. Maybe she was in shock, maybe she wasn't. But it was clear that she didn't want to be here. Maybe she wasn't feeling so apprehensive about them, himself and Lana, but about the Black Garden itself… the possibility sparked a small smile on the Titan's face.

He could work with that. This place… it didn't frighten him.

"I'm not sure about you guys, but if we're gonna be stuck in here anyway, we might as well do the job we were sent here for," Lana suggested as she looked up at the behemoth Titan.

"Agreed," Nolano nodded, pointing out into the stone maze of the garden. "I… um, it should be a day's walk from here."

"Road trip!" Lana laughed as she jumped up onto the broad shoulders of the Titan. Instead of occupying both sides, however, she sat only on his left shoulder. Beckoning Serra, she patted Nolano's right shoulder, adding, "Well, c'mon. I'm not sure about you, but I'm not walking. Especially since Tiny here is slow as hell!"

Nolano just sighed, deciding it was best not to refute the claim, "It-it's true. I am rather slow."

"But on the up side, the view is second to none!" Lana chirped happily. "Besides, you look a little woozy. I say, take a load off – at least for a little while."

"I'll walk, thank you."

"Suit yourself!" Lana shrugged at the taller Huntress' refusal to ride, swinging her leg around Nolano's neck so that she was more comfortable on top of his shoulders. She pointed her toes so that her white boots, still stained in Martian clay, hooked behind the Titan's back to help her keep her balance.

And Nolano could only watch helplessly as Serra took off in the direction that he had just pointed.

After a moment, she turned to look over her shoulder, asking, "Are you coming?"


	8. Chapter 8

_Sorry for the wait again, I'm going to try to be much better about updates in the future._

 _Disclaimer :: Redundant Disclaimer of Redundancy_

* * *

They had covered a considerable distance, bearing in mind everything their trio had been through already that day. It had been a few hours after they had started towards the coordinates Guyver had indicated that they agreed to stake camp for the night. Lana had found a secluded corner on a ledge elevated about sixteen meters off of the ground; it was high enough they were unlikely to be found but still offered their Fireteam two points of egress if they were to be caught unaware.

Serra had agreed to take the first watch and she had been gone for a while, she knew; but she'd been careful never to stray so far that she couldn't still pick up traces of Lana and Nolano's Light. If she had wanted to rebel, to go off on her own, Cayde had betrayed to Zavala the only place he knew she wouldn't run. Even now, tiptoeing through the shadows of the Black Garden and scared of never finding her way home to the Tower as she was, Serra wouldn't have done that to Nolano or Lana.

Even if her previous actions hadn't betrayed at least some semblance of how discontent she was to be in the Black Garden, she still preferred to be nearer to her Fireteam than far away from them. Even though she was embarrassed. Even though she was ashamed of herself, her hidden fears… She could draw strength from Lana's positivity despite their dire circumstances – and Nolano? She bit her lower lip from behind the safety of her visor and pressed her back against the cold stone wall she'd just wandered around.

He'd saved her life already. He'd been worried, concerned. He'd been patient, understanding of a fear that to him might have seemed unfounded… He hadn't asked what it was that frightened her. In fact, he'd never called attention to it at all. It mattered very much to Serra that he'd been silent where he might have called attention. For that she would always be grateful.

Circling back on the path that had led her thirty degrees northeast from them, Serra called out her presence when she was still a few meters away, "Don't shoot! It's Serra."

And she jogged the last few paces to where Nolano sat, leaned against a wall, with Lana's head in his lap. They were in a corner, Nolano positioned so that his shoulders touched both walls and Lana curled against his thigh with her knees pulled towards her chest. Serra might have considered that he was asleep, as well, had it not been for the sound of her voice, to which he'd turned his attention to her direction but had made no other motion.

Serra pulled off her helmet, placing it softly beside where Lana and Nolano had left theirs, slightly beyond where Nolano's ankles were crossed. Lowering her voice, she apologized, "I didn't realize she was asleep. I wouldn't have raised my voice."

"Do not worry about that," he chuckled, shaking his head as he gazed down at the sleeping Awoken Huntress. "I've seen Lana s-sleep through a Fallen ambush."

She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing out loud for the Titan's confession about the small woman asleep in his lap. It was so unlike a Hunter that she should be a deep sleeper – but Lana was special. It was one of Serra's first realizations about her; what was beginning to endear Lana to her.

Slowly, she took a seat to Nolano's left, opposite Lana. Her green eyes studied the way that his arm rested over the top of Lana's shoulder, the way his fingers curled gently around her bicep. Serra looked away, pulling her feet underneath her small frame and letting the sniper rifle she'd taken scouting with her slightly in front of her knees but still within reach. She left her eyes on the ground for a rather long moment before turning to look across the horizon, then up at stars that she could not recognize.

She sighed heavily – she was one Huntress very, very far from home. It was then, next to Nolano with Lana asleep on his opposite side, that she realized it wasn't death she was afraid of… it was dying here. In this place. Like the Huntress her friend Isaac had been so much in love with. Like all the others when a trace of neither Guardian nor Ghost was ever found. She wasn't sure if there was a good place to die… but if such a place existed, it was certainly not to be found within the Black Garden.

Serra could feel Nolano's eyes on her and, self-conscious of what she must look like with the stiches holding together the skin at her temple and above her brow, she leaned forward so her bangs fell across her eyes. And then she reached into the pouch at her waist to withdraw a damaged Ghost she had happened upon while scouting their immediate area.

Carefully turning the small metallic device over in her hands, she ran hesitant fingertips over one of the seams that led from the screen which would have emitted a blue light to the chipped edge of a point. Though the Ghost had likely been dead for longer than she'd been awoken to the Traveler's Light, she felt like she could sense something familiar.

"W-would you like me to ask Guyver to scan that for you?"

Serra started, turning her pale green eyes up to meet Nolano's; she hadn't moved her chin. When she read sincerity in his handsome brown eyes, she kept her voice soft and offered as an explanation, "I never scan them – the ones I save. Their stories are not mine to know."

"I understand," Nolano agreed, lifting the Ghost from her outstretched hand and taking careful measure to show the small box the same tenderness that Serra had earlier awarded the device. "But g-given our circumstances, um, well - I have to disagree."

"Titan?" the Huntress raised her eyebrow, regretting the action as soon as she felt the tender skin there pull at her stitches. Rather than expressing the pain, she simply nodded in agreement, calling, "Ghost?"

"Yes, Guardian?"

"Um, if you please," Nolano motioned towards the ruined Ghost that rested as a heavy weight in the center of his open palm, hesitating for a moment as he waited to see if Eddison would comply with his wish.

Serra stared at her hands, even after the familiar flicker of Eddison's Light shimmered in her peripheral vision. Her throat tightened as she waited, wondering what stories this Ghost, more than any of the others she had rescued in her travels, might possess. This Ghost was the only one she'd ever found within the Black Garden and there was only one Guardian lost to the Garden that she'd ever mourned the loss of. A woman she'd never met, who's name she didn't even know. A Guardian who Isaac had loved…

"Well?" Nolano's voice snapped her out of her reverie.

"I can't determine the Guardian's name," Eddison began, hovering in the space between Nolano and Serra's shoulders. "But she was a Huntress. One of Cayde's so she couldn't be more than, say, nineteen months gone."

Serra shuddered for his choice of words. Gone. Not missing. Not succumbed. Just gone.

"Could you determine anything – um, anything else?" Nolano asked quietly.

"Nothing of consequence," the Ghost replied. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "She was alone when she perished."

Serra leaned forward, reaching to take the Ghost from Nolano's hand with both of her own. Her voice was quiet, "Some stories are best left untold."

Nolano remained silent and the Huntress didn't look at him as she returned the Ghost to the pouch at her waist. Eddison flashed his Huntress with a comforting blue light before he disappeared into Serra's armor, leaving the pair of Guardians to their silence.

"I apologize about your arm," he'd spoken quickly, like the words had spilled out of his mouth before he'd truly thought them through. But there was a sentiment of genuine apology underneath his haste and she hesitated before looking up at him. Their eyes met and he added, "Had I summoned a stronger Ward of Dawn, you would be uninjured."

Reaching for the crimson scrap of fabric still secured around her bicep, Serra clenched her jaw as she tested the wound. A slight pressure from her fingertips resulted in discomfort; it was likely the shrapnel had torn muscle, though it was unlikely that she had damaged any ligaments or tendons. She still had full control of the limb.

"You do realize we'd all be dead if you hadn't, right Titan?" But Serra smiled; he hadn't stuttered at her that time like she was the Darkness itself. She had noticed almost immediately that he hardly ever stuttered at Lana and, even if subconsciously, she'd wanted to be like that – someone that he felt comfortable being around. When he didn't speak right away, she ran her fingertips over the smooth fabric of the crimson Titan mark wrapped over her wound, "A scratch on the shoulder is a small concern when you think of the alternatives."

"Thank you," he mumbled, flushing slightly for what she could only presume he'd deciphered of her hidden compliment. He was humble, for a Titan, she decided. Then, after a moment, he reached for a pouch at his waist and withdrew a small needle, a length of suture, and some antiseptic. His voice was cautious as he motioned towards her shoulder, showing her the materials and offering, "I can take a look at that, if you'd like."

She looked at him rather thoughtfully, considering whether or not he possessed much experience in basic first aid. When she decided that he didn't look overly nervous or like this offer from him was entirely out of the realm of normal, Serra nodded and moved closer so that she was sitting within his reach. She looked away as he removed his gloves and turned her attention towards her hands, folded neatly in her lap.

When Nolano pressed a swab of the antiseptic over the wound, she inhaled sharply; surprised that he hadn't at least warned her.

"S-sorry," he quickly pulled the swab away. His brown eyes were wide as she met his gaze.

She shook her head in reply; a silent indication that he shouldn't worry. And she softly bit her tongue, careful not to wince when he began the slow process of stitching her wound back together.

As she looked up at him, she asked softly, "You're new at this leader business, aren't you, Titan?"

"I've never been a Fireteam Leader before," the Titan agreed, pausing briefly to look up at her. But he looked away as quickly as their eyes had locked and Serra felt her chest constrict – maybe he really was frightened of her, after all. For all the times she'd asked the question of him, she had filled in the answer herself. So she leaned her head against the wall and gazed back up at the stars overhead, listening to the deep tones of his voice as he added, "I think this was supposed to be some sort of introductory mission for me, before, you know, we ended up trapped in here."

Nodding, she looked down at her arm to find that he'd already finished his work. There were eighteen neat, tiny stitches stretching over her bicep and he smiled sheepishly down at her, watching her as she inspected her arm. She took a deep breath, letting her head fall back against the wall again as she closed her eyes to stave off the dizziness.

She'd never weathered well inspecting her own wounds.

"Serra?"

She blinked her eyes open, replying simply, "Thank you, Titan." Then she picked up the crimson mark that had previously been wrapped around the injury and did her best to tie it back again. Without proper supplies, she was powerless to mend the tear in the fabric of her ebony sleeves. The scrap of fabric was going to have to keep her wound covered until… well, until she either found a means of repairing her garment or died in here. Whichever came first.

Nolano fastened the mark for her, replying sincerely, "You're welcome."

As Lana shifted in her sleep, turning away from Nolano and curling into a ball facing the wall, Serra looked down at the other woman. Watching for a moment the way she folded and unfolded her arms, shifting to get comfortable, the green-eyed Huntress sighed. Quickly, she removed her cape and folded it over itself a few times before handing it to the Titan, feeling the faintest beginnings of a smile pulling at her lips, "For her to rest her head."

Nolano nodded his head in thanks, prodding Lana just enough to place Serra's cape beneath her head. Then, pulling his legs towards his chest, the Titan leaned against the wall with both of his forearms on top of his knees. His voice was calm when he asked, "W-what about your Fireteam? You seem to be a very experienced leader."

Scoffing, Serra offered, "Titan, marked for dead as we are, what motivation is there behind your lies?"

"W-what?"

"I'm not leadership material."

She narrowed her eyes, studying him for a reaction but he'd looked away; maybe a bit embarrassed, ashamed. She was growing impatient with his silence. Never in the time that she had known him had she ever demonstrated anything that could be even slightly construed as a leadership quality. When they'd first met, she'd had her frustration for their shared past out with Bo, this Titan's Hunter. And then she'd tracked down his Warlock in the Crucible, punishing his false words with hot lead… what was this Titan trying to get at?

"Call it what it is," Serra whispered. Then, with each word, her voice was rising in volume, "I'm impetuous, thoughtless in my decisions. I'm too impulsive, too irresponsible. Angry. Tactless. Reckless. I don't care for collaboration, partnership, or comraderies. I'm a dissident."

Nolano remained silent, not looking at her.

"Say it, Titan," she taunted, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning darkly down at her black boots. Her ankles were crossed and her shoulders slouched. "Tell me what it is you really think."

There was tightness in the back of her throat, her breath felt sharp in her lungs. Serra could feel the tears stinging at the corners of her eyes for this perceived vulnerability he'd managed to stir within her but she was too proud to let any tears fall.

Her voice was soft as she whispered, "I assure you, it's nothing I won't have heard before."

Quietly, carefully Nolano replied, "What judgement could a s-stuttering, m-mumbling mess of a Titan have to pass for you?"

When she didn't look up right away, he put his hand on her shoulder, careful of the place the tattered fragment of his mark was wrapped around. And his smile was all the indication she'd needed to understand that he'd just made a joke – made fun of his own shortcomings for the purpose of cheering her up. She felt herself lean a little closer to him because it wasn't enough that she should feel this way without giving him some indication that he'd succeeded in whatever mission his words had been meant to accomplish.

She'd had to look away, ashamed of herself for being so short with him and so quick to pass judgements.

"Do not judge by appearances, a rich heart might be under a poor coat, right?"

Serra laughed, a light and carefree sound, as she looked curiously up at him. There wasn't a tone of mocking or distaste for what he'd just said; just the sound of a woman who appreciated a good joke when she heard one. And, though she didn't suppose he'd be able to decipher the hidden affection behind her laughter, Serra knew, then, that she was starting to warm up to the Titan in an entirely different way than she'd warmed up to his Huntress.

After a few moments of silence between the two of them, she whispered kindly, "It's likewise, you know."

He shrugged, "I guess, um, I mean – thank you."

The Huntress smiled to herself, leaning back against the wall as she absent-mindedly ran her fingertips over the stitches at her temple.

"If you're not a leader is that, um, why you work alone?"

She looked over at him, studying his expression carefully; the way handsome brown eyes held her gaze, the way he'd raised one eyebrow – almost like he was skeptical. Almost like he wasn't sure if he should have asked her the question, if she would answer him at all. She was dead anyway. What motivation was there for her to keep secrets any longer?

"Maybe," she confessed slowly, lowering her gaze to her feet as she wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them to her chest. Her voice was almost a whisper when she added, "I had a Fireteam. We didn't always get along but when we lost our Titan… well, she was the glue that held us together. I couldn't work with Bo after that."

"Bo?" Nolano asked skeptically. "My Bo?"

She nodded, not looking up at him.

"No other Fireteam fit; eventually Cayde stopped trying," she knew she sounded sad but how else was a Guardian expected to feel when they'd failed their Vanguard? She had been proud, too proud, to admit that she was beyond fixing so she'd slowly started adjusting her actions and attitude. She'd built a strong façade that it was her decision, had been all along, to work alone. And as far as Serra could tell, she'd fooled everyone. Cayde, Isaac, and, up to that moment, even herself.

Her eyes were focused on her sniper rifle a little ways away and she tried to let it hold her attention – because it hurt to remember this part of her past. Sometimes, she still thought she could feel the bullets in her back and, even when she thought about it very hard or hardly at all, she couldn't decide what was worse.

That he'd shot her or that he'd betrayed her.

"Serra? W-we don't have to talk about it."

She looked up at him, snapping quickly out of her thoughts. The Huntress shook her head, correcting, "Cecilia."

"W-what?"

"My name is Cecilia," she paused, then added, "Cecilia Serra. You should know that; in case we don't make it home."

She heard the shuffle of plasteel against stone and could deduce that Nolano was leaning forward before he'd put his hand on her forearm but she was startled nonetheless. Her eyes shot up, meeting his before she focused on the way his lips formed around the words, "I know the situation looks, um, rather bleak but we're going to figure something out. All of us are going to make it home; you, me, Lana. I promise."

And she believed him even before he'd reached out to brush her hair out of her eyes and behind her ear.

Her features softened and she nodded slowly. She was leaning forward subconsciously, her fingertips wrapping gently around Nolano's wrist, before she could think to stop herself.

It seemed that it was not the conversation itself but their movement, this moment, which caused Lana to stir. As soon as she'd caught a glimpse of the other woman sitting up, stretching her tired limbs before looking around, still a bit groggy, at her surroundings, Serra tensed and pulled away from Nolano. She was sure she looked guilty, staring at the stones halfway across the platform they'd determined suitable for their camp.

"Where are-" Lana yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "Is the mission over yet?"

Serra looked at Lana. Her hair was sticking up on the right side of her head.

"Hmm," she tapped her lips three times with her index finger, as though she were considering something. "Were you guys having a heart to heart without me?"

And the dark-haired Huntress studied her violet-haired counterpart curiously. She looked genuinely hurt that she might have missed out on some interesting piece of conversation, so Serra shifted forward, drawing the dead Ghost from the pouch at her waist to show the Awoken girl. Her voice was soft, "I found this while I was scouting but little else."

"Oh," Lana sighed, brushing one of her white-gloved fingertips over the twisted metal. "Poor little guy."

Serra nodded her agreement, feeling Nolano watching them. She turned to look over her shoulder at him, catching a quick smile before he turned to look down at his hands to hide the flush that had risen to his cheeks. He was pretending to ignore the two Huntresses but Lana was far more perceptive, and significantly less forgiving, than she let on.

Her tone was lighthearted, urging, as she asked, "You sure there's nothing else I missed?"

"I'm sure," Serra replied.

Shrugging as she pulled off her own cloak and folded it up, Lana agreed, "I believe you. Nolano has a hard time talking to women."

"Does he?" the green-eyed young woman turned to look at the Titan, hiding a smile for how rigid his back had gone, before she turned to look at Lana again.

Nodding enthusiastically, the violet-haired Huntress handed her cloak to Serra that she might be returning the other woman's favor as she chirped, "Did he tell you about the time he nearly crapped his pants talking to Tess?"

Raising an eyebrow, Serra smirked as she laid Lana's cloak beside her own. Her gaze fell back on Nolano as she studied his reaction to Lana's confession. She watched the Titan reach out, not entirely gently, to pat down a tuft of hair that stuck up haphazardly at his friend's temple. His voice was low, almost a growl, "Not really the appropriate audience, Lana."

"Owie!" the violet-haired Huntress pouted, smacking his hand away from her hair so that she could rub the pain away from the place he'd tugged too hard. As soon as Serra caught her gaze, though, she perked up, asking, "Who knew our leader was such a bully! Am I right?"

Serra laughed, holding her hand out to Lana, "Come on. It's our turn to rest."

She shifted the short meter across the stone floor so that she was sitting at Nolano's feet, just beside Lana and laid down, mindful of her sore shoulder.

"This is more like it!" Lana smiled, settling in next to Serra.

The women were both lying on their sides, facing one another when Nolano finally spoke, "So, I guess I'll take the next watch?"

"You betcha!" Lana waved her hand dismissively before replacing it in Serra's. She pressed her forehead to the other woman's, whispering enthusiastically, "You know, I've been waiting for Cayde to find a lady to add to our Fireteam. You have no idea how hard it is to be the only woman to take care of three boys!"

"Hey!" Nolano protested, bringing Serra's sniper rifle over to where the two women were sleeping and placing it above their heads and still within reach. His voice was laced with irritation when he added, "I'm still right here, you know."

"But you should be watching out for us," she glared up at her friend.

Serra felt her features soften for the impact Lana's words had on her, completely ignoring the small disagreement that she was having with the Titan. Lana spoke as though Serra already belonged to them; herself, Nolano, the Warlock Talzen, and the Hunter Bo. Even as she tried to console herself that she was too tired to correct Lana's assessment of the situation, that she was still her own gun, Serra knew that she found comfort in the perceived sense of belonging that the other woman had stirred within her. Like it didn't matter that she had a rocky past with Bo and that she'd managed to make an enemy of Talzen in the Crucible. Serra's voice was low when she asked, "There are only four of you?"

"Well, five now that you're here," she paused to yawn. "We still need one more. I'm hoping Ikora sends us a Warlock. A handsome one with grey eyes and none of Talzen's holier-than-thou bullshit, ya know?"

"Believe me," Serra whispered, closing her eyes as she curled closer to Lana. "I know."

Both Huntresses were asleep before Nolano had even left camp.


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: I'm just skip this on this time, they're not that funny anyway._

* * *

He'd come back a few hours later to find the pair of them still asleep. Lana had managed to find her way into Serra's arms and, whether the brunette Huntress would approve of her violet-haired counterpart's efforts when she awoke or not, the Titan couldn't help but smile for how peaceful they both looked. He only hoped, for Serra's sake, that she wouldn't be embarrassed – Lana had a poor concept of personal space and, by this time in her life as a Guardian, it was far easier to accept her as she was than try to acquaint her with boundaries that she wouldn't understand. Or consent…

Nolano crept quietly towards the pair of them; if they were still sleeping he figured there would be little harm in allowing them a few extra moments of rest before awakening them to the grim prospect of their shared reality. When he was still a few meters away, the Titan lifted his shotgun so that he was holding it in both hands. His dark brown eyes were focused on the slight rise and fall of her breath, the tiny movements of Serra's slender form sleeping. Had he not witnessed the sight for himself, he would have never believed she could look so docile.

And in the same moment, he flinched, watching helplessly as Serra wrenched sideways and drew the hand cannon at her waist in a split second. Even when waking from a dead sleep, her aim was precise; he froze both hands in the air with his shotgun in his right hand and smiled sheepishly, "Don't shoot! It's um, only me."

She relaxed as Lana grunted something that sounded like, 'no need to be so rough' and turned over to go back to sleep. Nolano remained frozen as her pale green eyes seemed to adjust to the dim lighting. She put the hand cannon back in the holster at her waist and murmured, "Good Morning, Titan."

"It's s-still before dawn by Tower's clock," he chuckled, sliding down the wall to sit in the place that she'd taken a few hours before. He pulled off his helmet and put it down beside Lana's. To ease his mind, he took to prepping his weapons; if yesterday was to be used as any indication, they needed to be ready. After a few moments of silence, he could still feel her watching him so he ventured a hesitant glance up at her, "Y-you can, um, go back to sleep, you know. It's Lana's turn to take the next watch."

Serra didn't speak but Nolano watched her gaze travel from his hands to fall somewhere just beyond his left shoulder. It was the same direction as their second point of egress, as though she could sense something trying to flank them. As the Titan watched her shiver, he tightened his grip around the shotgun and prepared himself for… whatever would come. But there was nothing, not even a flicker of movement against his sensors in the direction they were both looking.

"Do you sense something is watching us, Titan?"

The sound of her voice startled him and he felt an all too familiar heat rise to his cheeks. He'd just been watching her – she couldn't possibly have sensed that, could she?

He inhaled slowly in an attempt to calm his heartrate, "Serra? W-what do you see?"

Nolano tensed as she shifted to her knees, turning in the same motion so that she was facing the direction of her perceived intruder. She rose to a crouching position and let the fingertips of her left hand trail over her hand cannon but she left it in its place on her hip. Her voice was a low whisper, "Nothing; I feel it. Something sad, quiet, and dark."

"Stay with Lana," he ordered, sounding significantly braver than he felt. Nolano rose to his feet and slowly crossed the distance to stand beside the ledge where he believed Serra sensed whatever invisible force was causing her such discomfort. He crouched beside the edge with his shotgun at the ready and peered down over the side.

"Titan, don't move!" she commanded with an uncharacteristic crack in her voice.

And he heard her draw her hand cannon, relieving it of the safety. Her breath was coming in short gasps. When he chanced a hesitant glance over his shoulder, there was a flicker of a distortion that glimmered in the space that separated him from the women of his Fireteam – but it was gone in the same instant. He couldn't be certain that he'd seen anything at all and the Traveler knew he needed to keep it together for Serra's sake.

Her face was pale as she kept her gun trained to whatever it was she thought she saw. Her breath remained ragged. Her entire body trembled. But she stood in front of Lana, still asleep and completely unaware that her counterpart was about to lose her fucking mind.

"Hey," Nolano murmured in a soothing voice, standing slowly and reaching out to her. "Calm down. It's a-alright."

But Serra wasn't paying him any attention as she turned her entire body a few degrees to her right. Her hand cannon was still at the ready, though, from Nolano's perspective, aimed harmlessly at jagged protrusion from the wall he'd just been leaning against.

"Serra," he tried again, a little louder as he slowly crossed the distance separating them. When her name elicited no response, he reached out to her. Even through the thick gloves he wore, he was surprised by how warm she felt. He'd had to pull his hand away from her shoulder like she'd burned him. But it had done the trick to snap her gaze off of her invisible target.

A strange noise escaped her throat – something caught between anguish and agony. Her green eyes glimmered with the faintest hint of tears as she clutched at her chest with both hands, dropping her hand cannon, and fell to her knees on the ground in front of him. Nolano knelt before her, unsure what to do to comfort her – and, as proof of his hesitance, his left hand wavered over her left shoulder, just above where she still had the scrap of his mark tied over her wound.

"Hey, that smells like…" Lana mumbled, pushing herself up off of the ground. She yawned, rubbing sleep from her eyes with the back of her hand. When she noticed the commotion beside her, she worried aloud, "Serra? Hey, what's wrong?"

The Titan watched helplessly as his best friend gathered the other woman in her arms. Serra seemed to melt into Lana's embrace, turning slightly to press her forehead against Lana's temple. The brunette kept her hands over her heart as she slowly brought her breath and heartrate back to normal.

"That's better!" Lana whispered, running her fingers through the long strands of brown hair at the back of the other Huntress' neck. The smaller Awoken woman stifled a yawn with her free hand before she patted Serra's back, between her shoulder blades, a few times as reassurance. "Now don't scare me like that again, okay?"

"We have to move," Serra whispered, pulling away from Lana to meet the other woman's gaze. There had been an unmistakable note of pleading in her tone that sent chills up the Titan's spine.

"W-what did you see?" Nolano asked with urgency in his voice.

"Nothing," Serra replied, seemingly unable to bring her gaze to meet the Titan's. "I didn't see anything. I felt it."

"We gotta leave, Tiny," Lana murmured, placing a hand on the Titan's forearm.

Nolano watched helplessly as Serra stood and Lana followed after. The Awoken woman gathered both of the capes they'd been using as pillows and silently handed over the one that belonged to Serra. Her amber eyes were etched with concern and apprehension as she gazed up at her taller counterpart who said nothing but replaced the hand cannon in the holster at her waist and fitted her gleaming black helmet over her head.

"Um, Lana?" the Titan cautiously inquired, strapping the shotgun he still held to his back. "D-do you feel it too?"

But Lana only shook her head 'no' as she continued to stare at Serra, fastening her cape around her shoulders and replacing her own helmet. Nolano inhaled slowly, studying both Lana and Serra for a long moment before grabbing his own helmet.

"If there's s-something I should know," he hesitated, glancing intensely down at Serra, in particular, before continuing, "Anything you think might be important-"

But Guyver materialized from the Titan's armor at that same moment, interrupting his thought. The Ghost hovered a circle between the Titan and where the Huntresses stood together, slightly away from him. He quickly showered Serra's slender frame in silver light before turning to the Titan's hand, where he worked silently, muttering only an occasional 'interesting' or 'very peculiar'.

"Whatever it was that just haunted Miss Serra left an unmistakable Vex signature in this area, Guardian," the Ghost cautioned. "I'd advise you listen to them. If they aren't headed this way already, it won't be long before this place is teaming with Vex."

"Understood," Nolano agreed, curling his fingers around the last glimmers of light that remained after Guyver returned to the safety of his armor. Whatever had happened, or whatever had found them, it wouldn't be until later that their trio could decipher the meaning. For now, they needed to be away from this place and progressing with their previous objective was better than sitting idle in the Black Garden. If anything, this trek would at least burn through some of the time it would take the Vex to rebuild the primary sync plate, rewarding his Fireteam's patience with a viable escape route.

"What's your order, Titan?" Serra asked.

"Heh, um… this is actually the tough part now," the Titan replied uneasily as he pointed toward a plateau a few kilometers away. It was nowhere near as large as the monolith that sat in the middle of the Black Garden but was still tall enough to offer any Guardian trouble. Giving his pulse rifle a last once over, he continued, "The terminal that needs service is hidden on top somewhere."

"Well that sucks!" Lana bemoaned, linking her arm with Serra's.

The taller huntress only straightened but didn't pull her arm away.

"Um, yes, but the other Guardians who came before us were able to do it," Nolano replied as he headed in the opposite direction Serra's would-be tormentor had emerged. He jumped down from the raised platform where they had slept, holding out his hand towards Lana and Serra, adding, "So, well, I hope we can, too."

Lana was quick to grab the Titan's hand, pulling Serra towards the edge with her. She hopped into place beside her best friend, leading the way the rest of the way down from the platform they'd adopted as a makeshift campsite for the night.

Turning to glance back at the other huntress, the Titan frowned as he watched her glance hesitantly over her shoulder and shiver. He grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze when she turned her attention to him. His voice was calm as he prompted, "This way, Cecilia."


	10. Chapter 10

_AN: Meh, I'm just gonna kill this joke now._

* * *

The terrain before them cleared out immediately around the base of the spire, though after a few meters it picked back up to sprawl away from the platform with the Garden's typical patterns of arbitrary geometric formations. Their walk had been brisk – the trio had been prompted to make haste by the occasional echo of mechanical limbs and the wretched cries of Vex Minotaurs trailing behind in their wake. Despite the obvious indications that they were not alone in the Black Garden, they had been undeterred as they made their way to the base of the structure.

Once there, however, it was obvious that the Titan had grown a bit uneasy.

Lana was the first to begin scaling the wall before them. She made quick, lateral movements to offset the impossible distance between handhold and foothold. Serra couldn't help but smile for how easy the little Awoken Huntress made it all seem; if it happened that climbing was something Lana enjoyed, as well – hell, Serra would have to see to it that she showed the other woman a few of her favorite places around the Cosmodrome.

After scaling a few meters, the brunette paused to look down at a Titan who still had not made the first efforts towards joining the pair of women he'd brought to the spire. Her breath caught in her throat as she considered whether someone who possessed such an impressive height as Nolano could really be afraid of things taller than he was.

Serra suppressed her surprise and dropped to the ground in front of him.

"Everything alright, Titan?" she asked, keeping her voice low in case Lana might overhear. But she didn't wait for his response. Instead, she placed a hesitant hand on his forearm, gently pulling him towards the wall as she offered, "Here, do as I do. But whatever you do, don't look down."

The slender Huntress started her ascent again, mindful to keep near the Titan instead of trying to match pace with Lana.

After a few moments of silence, she asked, "Does your Huntress enjoy climbing, Titan?"

"Um, Lana?" he replied quickly, placing his left hand directly next to his right and reaching a short distance above himself for the next handhold he'd need to follow after Serra. After a few more meters of silence, he confessed, "I'm not s-sure."

"She's rather good," Serra complimented, crouching as low as she could along a ledge and leaping up to reach the next handhold. She grunted, catching herself before too much of her armor scraped against the unforgiving edges of the spire, and placed her left hand and right hand together over the handhold she'd struggled to reach. Then, without too much more bravado, she found her footing again and reassured Nolano, "You won't have to leap, Titan. You're taller than I am."

He chuckled nervously and the pair continued on in silence for a rather long stretch.

Serra ventured a glance up at Lana and noticed that she'd paused in her ascent. Surely she hadn't expended all of her energy in the first quarter of the climb… She was only a few meters above the Titan now.

"Hey, Tiny!" Lana called over their comms. "I've got movement up top."

And before he could respond, before Serra could react to her words, line rifle bolts rained down from seemingly nowhere as the spire began to shift beneath them. Serra grit her teeth, trying to scramble for whatever new foothold she could manage as the particular pieces of the structure she'd been clinging to rearranged themselves away from her.

Serra watched helplessly as Lana slid down towards her from the position she'd managed up top. There was a small ledge left barely wide enough for two to stand and Lana landed gracefully next to Nolano. The other Huntress, hanging onto the wall by only her left hand, growled in the back of her throat as she captured another handhold with her right hand and pulled her slender frame as close to the wall as she could manage.

"And below!" the Titan warned, summoning a Ward of Dawn to shield his Fireteam before they were subject to open fire from both sides.

The focused blasts of Vex fire bounced off of the Void light just as Serra felt herself losing grip, felt her fingertips gripping at nothing more than crumbling stone of the spire wall. And then she was falling, drawing the hunting knife from her thigh and plunging it into the wall to slow her descent. She closed her eyes, held her breath, and tried to ignore the sensation of free fall – until she felt arms around her waist, hands on her bicep.

She opened her eyes to find that Nolano and Lana had caught her before she'd been left to plummet to her death. Serra was suspended in midair with both of the Titan's arms around her waist and her right arm gripped tightly in Lana's strong hands. Lana let go quickly, shuffling as far to the side of their narrow platform as she could manage.

"Wait," Serra commanded, freezing Lana in place for the stern tone of her voice. "Put me back on the wall. I can climb."

"Climb where?" Lana snapped exasperation and panic in her voice.

"Do you have a better idea?"

As it was, there was not enough room for all three of them to stand on the ledge and, as Lana remained silent, Serra wrapped her left arm around the Titan's neck and turned her body into his. Then, even as she struggled to reach above the Titan's head for the nearest handhold, the rock surface beneath their feet began to shift with the eerie, cracking sound of granite breaking.

Serra waited helplessly, tightening her hold around the Titan's neck as she closed her eyes and held her breath. But she never did feel that sensation of freefall again. Instead, the Titan had managed to find the same handhold she'd been struggling to reach, herself. And as he turned to catch himself before he fell, his free hand had fallen away from Serra's waist and into another pocket of rock so that he was now facing the spire.

She was pressed between granite and the Titan, her back against the wall.

Then, panicked, she cried, "Lana!"

"Oh, shit!" the little Awoken girl whimpered from behind the Titan, clinging desperately to the back of his chest plate. "Hold on to me! I'm too cute to die!"

And Serra reached over the Titan's shoulder, feeling blindly for the place where the other woman's chest plate met her shoulder pads. With as much strength as she could muster, Serra hoisted her counterpart up so that she, too, had a solid grip on the Titan. Taking Lana's left hand in her own, she placed it over the place where the Titan's chest plate separated from his right arm guard and commanded, "Grip here, Lana."

She exhaled, relieved when the other woman scrambled up onto the Titan's back.

"You guys alright?" Lana's voice called over the comms, relief evident.

"Lana," Serra whispered, placing her left palm over the back of the other woman's helmet as she leaned forward over the Titan's shoulder to bring all three of their helmets together in her relief.

"Heh, w-well, I guess we found the Vex," Nolano commented, trying to lighten the mood.

"Titan, how much longer will your Ward hold?" Serra turned to him, removing her hand from Lana's helmet to reach for the sniper rifle strapped to her back.

"Maybe a few more seconds," he guessed, trembling as she reached down to grip his left knee and move it into place.

She felt her entire body tense as she moved to support herself with her left heel on a narrow rock that protruded from the wall and her right leg over his left hip. Gingerly, she let go of Nolano's neck, staring at where his eyes would be on the other side of his visor as she quietly tried to mask her fear, "Please don't let go?"

Feeling the Titan press his chest against hers, anchoring her in place, Serra lined up, as best she could, a target at the top of the spire. She was prepared to take a shot as soon as the Ward of Dawn failed. Lana, on the other side of the Titan, could be heard readying her auto rifle.

It was only a few moments of silence before the bombardment of Vex artillery brought down the protective wall of Void light. The brunette Huntress could hear her counterpart's auto rifle spray defensive fire down at the closest automations scaling the wall from behind them.

Taking a deep breath, Serra pulled the trigger on her sniper rifle, aimed at a Hobgoblin above them.

"Fuck," she cursed as the bullet missed its mark and the Hobgoblin enveloped itself in a stasis shield. Serra muttered, "Deep breath, Titan."

Waiting for Nolano's movement to steady before she took her next shot, she drew a deep breath and fired one of her high caliber rounds upwards, sent it spiraling into the center of the same Hobgoblin as it imploded in a mess of white fluid and metallic shrapnel. She fired two more shots for two more kills before she felt herself and the Titan exhale.

Reloading the magazine, she took aim and whispered, "Again."

Slowly, her precise shots cut down seven of the ten Vex looming overhead, sprinkling the air with spent shells and cybernetic limbs. What Lana's progress on their pursuers from below looked like, Serra was unsure. But with the Titan as anchor, the pair of Huntresses eventually pushed back the alien machines and cleared a way for the Titan to progress upwards.

His voice was confident as he commanded, "Hold on. We've got a narrow window."

Serra made a small noise of acknowledgement in the back of her throat before settling the sniper rifle over her left shoulder. She was out of ammunition and Nolano used a shotgun – not that she'd considered to pan through the pouches at his waist for reserve ammunition even if he did carry a sniper. But desperate times…

Biting her lower lip, she readied her hand cannon before she pulled her leg back over the top of Nolano's. Without the benefit of his leg for balance, she wrapped her left arm around Nolano's neck and gripped the front of Lana's armor, just below her neck. As the Titan slowly began to climb, Serra held her breath and took aim at the Vex reinforcements that had replaced those she'd already cut down. A hesitant glance down informed her that they had exceeded the range of Lana's auto rifle, so Serra commanded, "Lana, focus fire up top! There are too many."

"Right-O, Lady Lightning!" Lana chirped, pulling her gleaming Golden Gun from the Traveler knew where and firing three well placed shots into the larger gatherings of their enemy. The shots hit their marks precisely, causing a myriad of explosions that eliminated the largest portion of Vex Hobgoblins and Minotaurs.

Serra backed up Lana's great aim by firing two shots of her own for two more kills.

Then, as though on cue, Nolano paused in his climb and the small Huntress could feel the muscles tensing in his shoulders. All around the trio, streams of hot lead cut rather interesting looking gashes into the spire as the few remaining Vex took aim at the defenseless Guardians below.

"Titan, can you throw one of us up there?" Serra asked as she pulled additional rounds from her waist pouch using her right hand and put the tube into her mouth so that she could replace them in the chamber of her hand cannon.

Without hesitation and before the Titan could affirm, Lana replied excitedly, "Oh, oh! Do me first! I've always wanted to try this!"

"A-are you quite certain?" Nolano asked. "The last ones remaining will most likely be more heavily armored."

"Doooo it!" Lana cried, brimming with enthusiasm as she clambered up his back and on top of his shoulders.

The sudden movement from the smaller Huntress spent Serra's weak hold on the other woman's chest plate and she whimpered helplessly as she felt herself falling down in the space between the Titan and the granite wall behind her. But Nolano caught her before she could fall, pulling himself as close to the wall as he could manage. With her left arm, Serra quickly tightened her hold around the Titan's neck and sighed, "T-thank you."

"Careful, Lana!" the Titan scolded. Then, he added, "I-I don't think this is such a good idea."

Feeling frustrated and a little put off that Lana had nearly sent her plunging to her doom, Serra growled, "She's fine. Little Miss here just has to be a good distraction."

"Oopsie!" Lana worried aloud, finally realizing what she had almost done. She patted Serra's helmet, chuckling, "Sorry about that, Lady Lightning."

"Don't call me that."

"A-are you certain you want to do this, Lana?" Nolano asked timidly, trying to break the tension between the women.

Lana nodded.

As the Titan removed his grip from the wall, Serra replaced her hand cannon at her waist and turned around in his arms, finding her own handholds on the wall. Freeing herself as a distraction from the Titan so that he could more easily complete his next task, Serra climbed a bit up the wall and looked down to watch as the smaller Huntress crawled off of the Titan's shoulders. Climbing, more carefully this time, onto his arm, Lana balanced with her feet in Nolano's palm and crouched as low as she could without touching the wall beside her. She had her auto rifle ready in her right hand and pointed towards the sky with her left, shouting, "Lift off!"

"A-alright, then," Nolano seemed apprehensive as he flung her slight figure skyward. The force of his efforts to hurl her in the air seemed to suppress any further words because she remained silent.

Serra held her breath as she watched the Awoken Huntress' momentum fade near the end of her jump. But she managed to find some foothold near the top and jump twice to clear the edge of the spire.

"Oh, fuck you, buddy!" Lana cried out as a roar of mortar-like hell fire, the likes of which could only be produced by a Hydra, echoed down to the two Guardians clinging to the edge of the cliff below. "I don't like this plan anymore!"

"Titan! Hurry!" Serra panicked, rushing to climb the remaining few meters to reach the top and offer her counterpart some additional firepower. Serra blindly tossed a fusion grenade over the edge, just before she crested the top, and listened for the subsequent explosion.

When it came, she rolled over onto the top of the spire to the echo of Lana's praise in her comms, "That Minotaur didn't stand a chance, Lady Lightni– I mean, Serra!"

"Lana! Shoot the Hydra!" Serra commanded, taking cover behind a small outcropping of rock and firing all six rounds from her hand cannon at the offending Vex Champion. Behind her, she could hear the sound of the Titan's pulse rifle and, as she ducked behind her meager cover to reload her hand cannon, she glanced over to where he'd taken up position beside Lana.

"Behind you, Serra!" Nolano warned as a Minotaur tried to flank her.

She quickly rolled away, towards her Fireteam, as Lana and Nolano gunned down the charging beast. Coming to a halt at Lana's feet, Serra watched as the Titan and Huntress' bullets blazed a path through the second Minotaur. The creature had likely detonated before it could even update the Vex network with its impending demise.

In response to their actions, the stunned brunette replied, "I owe you for that."

Before either Nolano or Lana could reply, the Hydra's guttural scream echoed for miles around as it nearly doubled its efforts to kill the three Guardians taking cover behind an already dilapidated outcropping of rock. Covering herself in active camouflage, Serra rolled out into the center of the Spire and prepared to take aim at the Vex Champion.

Then, from seemingly nowhere, two white missiles streamed through the thin air, knocking the Hydra over the far edge of the Spire before its broken body could explode. Nolano rushed over to the edge, Serra presumed to watch the way debris would be raining across the grey skies of the Black Garden as what remained of their Vex assailant fell to the ground below.

Her green eyes quickly shot towards the direction those missiles seemed to have been fired from – but there was nothing in the empty space. As Serra's active camouflage dissipated, she collapsed against the twisted form of what appeared to be a tree and struggled to regain her breath as the adrenaline of the previous events began to wear off. Still, despite the fatigue, she kept her eyes trained to the perimeter.

"Yeah, go team," Lana chuckled despite her evident exhaustion as she limped over to where Serra sat and gingerly kept the weight off of her injured leg as she managed to lower herself to the ground beside the other woman.

Feeling her expression soften as the Awoken captured her attention, Serra removed her helmet and moved to help Lana with hers. Her voice was soft when she carefully touched the other Huntress' knee, observing, "Lana, you're injured."

The other girl winced, "Hey! That hurts!"

Hurrying over to the pair of Huntresses, Nolano knelt down in front of Lana and visually inspected her wound. When he pulled off his own helmet, he was frowning, "A-are you alright?"

"If I say 'no' are you gonna use some of your Void magic?" she pouted, sounding almost impatient in her subtle persistence.

"I dunno, Lana," the Titan teased, already summoning the small pocket of Void magic to his palm and tugging the mark from his waist to wrap around it. "That's an awful lot of Light."

Embarrassed, Serra turned away, letting her gaze fall back to the far side of the spire. A flicker of movement flashed against her sensors and she silently, slowly worked six bullets into the chamber of her hand cannon. Never once did her eyes leave the far horizon – if the Titan or the Huntress noticed, neither one made mention.

"Owie!" the brunette listened to Lana complain.

And the Titan's voice followed, "C'mon, Lana, it's not that bad."

Curious, Serra stood, using the tree to help her regain her footing. She left her sniper rifle on the ground beside Lana and Nolano as she walked across the surface of the spire. Her steps were slow – she could feel the same sense of foreboding like a pressure in the back of her skull that she had known earlier that morning. It was a perverse mixture of terror and curiosity that drew her forward to investigate the flickering anomaly standing at the far side of the platform.

After a few meters, Lana called after her, "Where ya goin', Lady Lightning?

"Don't call me that," Serra muttered, raising her hand cannon slightly, though not letting herself aim it entirely at the distortion she was just beginning to pick out against the dark sky of the Black Garden.

"What do you s-see, Serra?" Nolano asked.

She could hear him readying his pulse rifle but she found herself unable to answer him. All words seemed to die at her tongue. And when she made to motion for him to lower his weapon with her left hand and behind her back, she found that she was unable to move her limbs. Serra was frozen, suspended in a state of deamination where her senses were fine tuned to watching that glimmering flicker of movement across the horizon but she was completely helpless to warn her Fireteam of the presence of this strange intruder.

Nolano's voice was nearer, this time, "S-serra?"

'Eddison?' she wondered of her Ghost. Perhaps if he could warn them…

But the instant he tried to materialize from within her armor, that's when she began to register the pain.

It started at her toes, a slow smolder, and rushed through her aching legs to her core. It centered in her stomach but spread rapidly to each of her limbs, in turn. Her vision blurred for the intensity of the pain, for the focus of it – and it was as a result of that muddling of her sight that she started to make the figure of their intruder out more clearly.

A humanesque form engulfed in liquid fire… of the Vex persuasion. It, the thing, whatever it was turned towards the Huntress and Serra could practically feel her skin crawl for the way it seemed to smile as it spoke, "I've been waiting for you a long time, Guardian."

"Serra, are you alright?" Nolano's voice asked urgently from her right.

When she felt his hand on her shoulder, she forgot everything else…


	11. AN

I can't even express how truly sorry I am about this, I really don't like delivering bad news, but at this time I can't finish EDEN. The end of 2016 was pretty horrible for everyone, and one the several thing that went wrong was falling out with my co-writer. I won't even lie, the event still haunts me, she was a good friend for a long time and if there was any right now i could let her know how sorry I am, I would. But I can't yet, and as a result I feel my work will suffer.

But I personally don't like to leave things unfinished, even it if seems like I've given up.

 **DARK NIGHT** will have a proper ending, the one I originally planed, with one more core chapter and an epilogue.

 **Lana** and the rest will not end here, they be back in an anthology I'm planning that, if all goes well, will carry into Destiny 2. It will likely resolve some, but not all plot points in Eden.

Again please forgive me, I never meant for things go wrong, and I would do it over if I could, but as another friend has been trying to tell me, it's better to move forward than look back.


End file.
